Malayali community celebrates the Onam festival at Kala Vikas Kendra in Cuttack.

Cuttack, Aug. 29: The Malayali community here celebrated Onam with much fanfare during the weekend.

Though Onam was observed last Sunday in Kerala, the festival was celebrated with song, dance and delicious Malayali food this weekend. This was done to ensure that all members of the Malayali community could participate in the celebrations. A large number of non-Malayali people also joined in the festivities.

The celebrations began with cultural programmes organised at the Kala Vikas Kendra. Beautiful women decked with flowers and sporting the mundu, a traditional Malayali attire, sang songs and decorated the floor with floral designs.

“Pookalam is an artwork done mainly during Onam to decorate the floor. Today, we held competitions to make designs with marigold petals,” explained a smiling Aishwarya, a young participant.

The boat race, called vallam kali in Malyalam, which takes place during Onam, was also enacted on stage with song and dance to help create the ambience of an actual race.

Women in colourful costumes performed the enchanting oppana dance to the tune of melodious folk songs. This was followed by the diya dance,where the girls held earthen lamps in their hands and danced in circles.

People of the city, cutting across religious lines, participated in the merriment.

“I have many Malayali friends and have been celebrating this festival for the last five years. It is a beautiful festival with lovely folk music and dance,” said Sohail Khan, a businessman.

“Malayalis have a vibrant culture and we are lucky to catch a glimpse of it here in Cuttack,” said Pragyan Das, a college student, who attended the festival with her Malayali friends.

“The 10-day festival is celebrated by observing as many rituals as possible in one day,” said president of Kerala Samajam V Vijay Kumar.

He said Cuttack’s Malayali community began celebrating Onam in 1996.

Over the years, the celebrations have become grander and today we have a get-together of 400 members from the Malayali community that include those who have lived here for years and those who come here for business or educational purpose. Also, more than 100 people from other communities join us,” he said.

“Onam is a harvest festival similar to Nuakhai festival of western Orissa. Malayalis believe that during this time, the mythical king Mahabali comes to his people to see how they are doing,” he added.

The celebritions concluded with a grand feast called sadya that included a platter of vegetarian meals served on banana leaves.

“Kerala dishes are absolutely delicious,” said Rabi Sahoo, a stationery shop owner.