28th August 2023 Beena

Hello everyone, it’s that time of the year when Malayalees go crazy🤣🤣🤣. It is a time of feasting a complete vegetarian meal. I have attempted a feeble way to portray that in this watercolour painting. I was unsure as to what I should paint🤨🤔🤔.

Anyway, the purpose of this “Onam sadya” painting is to explain why, of all the stories of Mahabeli, harvest festival, boat race, tiger dances, etc., an essential part of Onam is the sadya🙏😊. The sadya is centred around the banana.

The plate is the banana leaf. There are savoury and sweet banana chips. The savoury ones look like little gold coins. The banana flower and stem make “thoran” and maybe other dishes. We prepare many dishes using raw and ripe bananas. I am not a cook, but I love to eat😎😉😉. There are many dishes, some of which can be prepared beforehand, like the pickles, “inchi puli”, and others. I love Avial, and it is my favourite😋😋. But wait, to be honest, nowadays there are 100 dishes which include the payasam. There are many varieties, and I love the traditional one made with chickpeas. When I was young, I knew there were many dishes, but not 100🥹. It is the quality of food that matters, not the quantity. Hence, I prefer fewer dishes I can savour and relish😋😋😋.

Hence, to all my Malayalee friends, Happy Onam, enjoy the sumptuous vegetarian food with your loved ones🙏🙏😊. Onam comes every year, but each can be unique😊😊.