Onam, a moveable feast

My first memories of a happy childhood revolve around my granny. The time spent home on Onam holidays are the most vivid, among the haze of hot summers and lazy afternoons wasted in the backyards listening to the servants' gossip.

But September was different. Even nature was in full bloom. The fields of rice turned a warm honey color, heavy with paddy. Wild flowers dotted the plains in bright yellow and violet hues waiting to be picked.

Soon after dawn we would set off with our wicker baskets, a small troupe of cousins tramping our way through slush and moist ground. Far and wide we explored in search of more exotic flowers, keeping some hideaways a secret for the next day's picking. When the basket would hold no more, we turned home.

The light drizzle did not matter as we patterned the central courtyard with our rather bizarre floral designs. It did not matter so long as each one of us had a hand in it.

The preparations for the lunch feast would have already begun. As roles were designated and tasks assigned, one got the coconut scraping while another was entrusted with whipping whey or cleaving bean pods. Much as I disliked the monotony of the scraping we had learnt early on that there was no room for dissent. You simply followed Granny's orders.

Everyone among us coveted the 'ada' making and many a mutiny would have followed if not for the strict supervision of Granny. Nevertheless, Granny was known to hear an appeal or two, especially from the youngest among her wards.

As the morning wore on, the jaggery boiled to thickness and ginger roasted to its perfection. The sweet smell wafting from our kitchen mingled with the spice from our neighbors to stir the beginnings of a hunger.

Then came the aunts and uncles who lived away and with them they brought along stalks of ripe plantain or peeled jackfruit. Behind them followed our cousins. Each one of us had our own battles to win, courage to prove and acceptance to be earned before being inducted into 'the circle.' If squabbles broke out among us, it never reached the ear shot of the adults.

Uncles sat around fanning their own self importance, discussing worldly affairs. Hierarchies were strictly enforced with the eldest voicing objections or approvals, more the former than the latter, on all matters from the running of the household to matters of the farmland. To us children it seemed everyone and anyone older to us ran our lives.

With the hired helps sweating it out at the fireplace and the aunts busy with their own preoccupations and affairs, it was easy for us children to do what we dared. These afternoons were the longest for us. And the most splendid !

We spent many hours swimming and playing in the village pond, returning exhausted and hungry. A whole month's anticipation comes to an end on this day.. with the feast.

By Anjana Das