A traditional Onam in Sydney

Mahabali arrives to give Onam blessings

The Sydney Malayalee Association celebrated Onam at Redgum Function Centre in Wentworthville recently. About four-hundred and fifty people enjoyed a visual feast of performances by local artists and later on an Onam sadhya (feast) with traditional vegetarian ingredients.

President Mr Padmanabhan Karamil received the guests including Mr Gautum Roy (from the Consulate of India), Mr Laurie Ferguson MP (Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services), Mr Philip Ruddock MP (Shadow Minister for Immigration & Citizenship), Clr Vasee Rajaduri (representing Mayor of Holroyd City Council), and Mrs Aruna Chandrala (President UIA).

Mr George Thomas, Vice President of Sydney Malayalee Association gave the welcome address.
Mr Gautum Roy, Mr Laurie Ferguson, Mr Philip Ruddock, Clr Vasee Rajaduri and Mrs Aruna Chandrala lit the lamps to begin the program.

Clr Vasee Rajaduri formally invited Mahabali to the function and the multilingual Mahabali expressed his happiness in visiting his subjects and wished them well.

This year a few Awards were launched by Sydney Malayalee Association (Sydmal).
Jacob John, Executive Committee member, formally launched Sydmal’s Distress Relief Fund.

Jayakumar Sadananda, Secretary of Sydmal spoke about Excellence Award for three students who scored the highest marks in the past HSC examination and was presented to three recipients (Mr.Mathew Benjamin George, Ms Sandhya Menon and Mr Jaison Jacob) by Mr Gautum Roy.

Biju Kurien, Executive Committee member, Sydmal spoke about Service Award and the inaugaral award was presented by Mrs Aruna Chandrala to Mr S. Cherian.

Anish Philip, past Vice President of Sydmal spoke about the vision and future direction of Sydmal.

The performances were enthralling to say the least. It included Thiruvathira Kali, classical dances, popular songs, comedy skits, electrical dance, etc.

This year’s interesting feature was Ottamthullal, a satirical dance performance that originated well over 250 years back in Kerala. It is performed mostly in Malayalam unlike other performances which are mostly in Sanskrit. Pt Jawaharlal Nehru once described Ottamthullal as the poor man’s Kathakali. Ramdas performed Ottamthullal and entertained the audience.

The program concluded with Babu Menon, Executive Committee member, Sydmal giving vote of thanks.

Check out snippets of the Onam celebrations on You Tube.

Sunny Cherian