Happy Onam!

So this year I had the opportunity to be a part of Onam celebrations in God's own country.. While I do have a lot of Mallu friends and I've celebrated Onam with them at Bangalore, I think it was missing the authentic flavor that the festival has.. Well, this year I got to experience Onam in it's true unadulterated form..

For the uninitiated, Onam is Kerala’s annual festival where everyone, and I mean everyone celebrates the homecoming of the legendary King Mahabali.. It’s about prosperity, unity, gratitude, equality and also about flower carpets (pookalam), traditional dances, and eating like there’s no tomorrow (Sadya). 

So the difference between celebrating festivals outside Kerala and in Kerala is that the native mallus believe in advance planning.. As so many Insta reels have depicted that it is the HR's role to conduct Rangoli competitions, organize Fun Hours etc in office, hence being the HR head it is also in my purview to ensure that Onam is celebrated with all the fanfare that it deserves.. Like I said the native mallus are an enthusiastic lot, sometimes too much so we decided that planning should start a month in advance with hours devoted to discussing about where to order the Sadya from and what other arrangements were to be made..

And just when I thought that the discussion part was getting on my nerves, there was also the issue of who is going to bell the cat.. As in seek permission of the bosses for conducting the celebrations.. It is important to have your bosses on board and that is actually the secret to a successful office Onam celebration.. that and an over enthusiastic group of colleagues who have no qualms sitting in front of HR and spending hours discussing the program execution in detail.. 

Prep time was basically like family drama before any festival.. Tempers flaring, passive-aggressive comments flying, and everyone ready to snap because they were doing “all the work".. Except here they were nice enough to serve their sarcasm in small doses (since HR must be treated with reverence, apparently).. So yeah, while people cribbed and sulked, somehow, the magic still happened..

D Day arrived and the Office was decorated beautifully.. The pookalam so perfectly done.. All my colleagues dressed in their traditional best.. with all of us colour coordinating our attires like we’d rehearsed it for a Vogue cover shoot..

The festivities began with our pookalam being judged.. as we had entered a competition and the judges came to mark our pookalam.. This was followed by a small gathering with our boss speaking on the importance of the occasion.. Then came the chendamelam drummers who single-handedly raised the festive vibe by about 1000%..

Games followed.. And let me just say, the men in my office are absolute legends.. Watching them drape sarees and strut the ramp like they were auditioning for Lakmé Fashion Week? Priceless.. After more games, we finally reached the main event: the Sadya.. Banana leaves, 20+ items and that blissful silence when everyone is too busy stuffing their faces to talk..Post-lunch we had cultural programs where almost the whole office participated.. singing, dancing, and generally surprising us with hidden talents..

And here’s the plot twist: while the planning phase was a circus of complaints and passive aggression, the end result was this amazing, warm, unforgettable celebration.. It reminded me that families and offices colleagues may bicker endlessly but festivals somehow duct-tape everyone together into one big happy chaotic unit..

And at the end I was left with some philosophical thoughts.. How in families we never see eye to eye on so many things and how there are so many things we would like to change about each other.. but how a festival brings everyone together and how coordination and planning a programme while tedious and downright annoying at times is actually what results in a super successful programme..

Did I enjoy the program.. YES! would I want to organize something like this in future (I'll reserve my comments on this.. ;-)) 

Anyway here’s my sarcasm-tinged moral of the story: A family that eats together stays together..  Similarly an office that plans and executes a celebration together is bound with memories that will last a lifetime..

Here's wishing you all a happy Onam.. may this festival bring you all peace and prosperity and a good time with your family and friends.. :-)