Onam in a far off desert in Kuwait is not quite the same as it was back in Kerala.
You would have noticed that I used the word 'was' and not 'is'.
Even in Kerala, Onam has been commercialized beyond recognition, both in Urban and Rural areas. The spontaneity and naturality that marked Onam during the Agrarian period of yore has long since died. There is nothing surprising about it, for Onam has always been an Agrarian festival, literally the harvest festival of Kerala. With Agriculture in the doldrums, people not depended on Agriculture for a livelihood, the economy moving towards a Services economy, the whole State dependent on money flow from the Gulf, and Cable TV packaging Onam during a 3 day Advertisement cum program with stilted/jaded/cinema based/artificial programs, the Onam has changed beyond recognition. The commercial aspect of Onam and the move towards a 'progressive' society is clearly visible in Kerala by just looking at the special offers, banners and posters put up by the Commercial establishments.
Even the Sadhya (feast) is made of ready to make items. It was not so in earlier days. Onam normally denotes the end of monsoon, and the beginning of harvest. Fresh paddy, bananas and vegetables from your own backyard and agricultural field were available in plenty. This was used to prepare the feast. Hardly anything other than the pulses and other ingredients were purchased from the market.
Fresh rice, vegetable for Sambhar, tomator for rasam, coconut which is an ingradient of all dishes, milk from the cows in the house, curd from this milk, bittergourd/banana (both raw for chips and ripe)/ Chena/ White and yellow pumpkins/ drumstick - all were in house products. The banana chips were made inhouse in pure coconut oil (households had enough and more coconuts which were dried and send to local oil mill for coconut extraction - I remember doing this chore when I was in school) and the payasam was again made of Coconut milk. The only major expense in the household was for buying new sets of dresses. But even here, a handloom Set Mundu for ladies and a simple handloom white dhoti for the men were locally made and cheap.
The household was virtually a closed system, unlike today where everything has to come from outside. Since all the members of the family (it was joint family then) had to put in a collective effort to convert the raw material to the final finished product - the feast, there was a sense of team work and comaradiere.
Today, with nucleus families being the vogue, and people not having ownership in agricultural produce, the omni present money has started raising its ugly head. People get a feeling that since they earn enough, money can purchase anything, forgetting that the taste and the feeling lies in the collective effort of the people of home who take pains to prepare for onam which can not be substituted.
I am not for a moment saying that we should not have moved away from the agrarian economy. I am just pointing out certain things we have lost forever, for good or bad - a part of our wonderful culture and past. But life moves on.
