Malayalis celebrate Onam at Tirupati Tirumala Devastanam at Jayadev Vihar in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati and Uttam Kumar Pal

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 2: Members of the Malayali community today celebrated the biggest festival of Kerala, Onam, with an elaborate feast.

Residents of the city indulged in a lavish platter of dishes from God’s own country. Apart from being a colourful community get-together, the event, organised by the 48-year-old Kerala Kala Samiti (KKS), was also a cultural exchange of Odia and Malayali traditions.

The Tirupati Tirumala Devastanam (TTD) in Jayadev Vihar was buzzing with the cheers of Malayali women, who were dressed in the traditional attire of Kerala, the Kasavu off white sari with golden borders. The women were seen enjoying the activity of designing the pookalam, an artistic pattern on the floor made of floral petals. Everybody was welcome to join them.

Men, too, were playing perfect hosts by guiding the visitors to the seating area for lunch. All of them flaunted the two-piece Kasavu Mundu that is made up of the juba, a type of kurta and the mundu, which is similar in its colour and border to the Kasavu sari and wrapped around the waist. They were swift in serving the mouth-watering 13-course meal on banana leaves.

“Onam is a 10-day harvest festival celebrated by community members irrespective of their religion. The day of the feast is known as Onasadya and is usually observed on the last day of the festival. At the KKS, Bhubaneswar, we get together on a Sunday during the festivity to observe the Sadya,” said Mani V. M, the president of the organisation.

“The courses are to follow a certain order, and in fact, each dish needs to be served on specified parts of the banana leaf,” he explained.

The serving started with the crispy pappadum followed by a ripe banana, banana wafers, ginger lime and mango pickles, various traditional salads prepared out of curd and pineapple, bottle gourd and beans. Rice was served at the centre on which spicy sambar was added to create a delectable platter. Rasam, kalan, thoran, aviyal and two varieties of payasam were also on the platter of the exotic Kerala feast.

Odia guests enjoyed the sumptuous meal and also the chance to understand the culture of Kerala better. “Onam is similar to Nuakhai, both being harvest festivals. Many of my Malayali friends have been raised in Odisha and are as much Odia as Malayali. It was amazing to get a chance to know more about Kerala’s culture and taste Malayali food that includes a wide variety of flavours,” said Jharana, a guest.

Members of the KKS have taken the pains to create the elaborate spread, said vice-president of the organisation Ramachandran K.V. The organisation that has over 1,200 members belonging to around 200 Malayali families celebrated its 46th annual Onasadya in the city.

A cultural evening to mark Onam celebrations will be hosted on September 29 at the Bhanja Kala Mandap in the city.

The Kerala community in Rourkela also observed Sadya today. More than 300 members attended the event.