It's Festival Time Again !

This morning when I got off the phone with my parents, I felt a sort of numbness……a numbness that comes out of an unsettling helplessness and painful realization that we will not be there at home with our families this year too, to be part of those celebrations around this festival time of Onam. The holiday spirit that spontaneously brings a refreshing mood amongst the family members…………utmost carefulness on the faces of the women making the shopping list and that last minute soft reminder to the men folk going to the market to buy only the freshest of the vegetables …………..the maddening crowd at those specially set up seasonal markets, Onachantha………unusually packed electronic shops lit with fluorescent lights and huge display boards with the special rates and irresistible discounts targeting the middle class………..families walking by the sidewalks carrying a handful of shopping bags from the city's best textile shops…………… the heaving flower markets selling various colours of marigold to make the ornately decorated floral carpet, Pookkalam though one cannot ignore the simplicity of Pookkalam made with 'naadan' flowers like mukkuttippovu, chemabarthippovu, chethi poovu plucked from one's own garden and backyard and sometimes from the fence too…… the phone bells ringing unremittingly with friends and relatives calling to greet each other………..a visit to 'Tharavadu', paternal/maternal houses ………..the overall rhythm of those festival days , the sound of the loved ones and the smell of the flowers and banana leaf and flavors of the feast just gets rekindled as I try to hunt for some familiar vegetables in this temporarily adopted foster home!!!!

We wish you all our readers a very homely and festive Onam……..enjoy these happy days with family and friends and ofcourse the elaborate feasts. And don't stain your Onakkodi, the new dress bought for celebration, while slurping that decadent Pradhaman/Payasam :) Well, this humble blog of mine, Mishmash! also gets its Onakkodi this year……a new template and new look :) Hope the readers of this blog finds this change pleasant!

Once again, festival greetings to all of you !

Luv
Shn

No part of the content ( articles, photographs, recipes) of this blog may be reproduced without my written permission.Copyright © 2007-2010 Kitchenmishmash.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.