Mahabali @ Technopark

“Maybe Mahabali pays a visit only to Technopark these days” – the wife says to me tongue in cheek the other day.

To rewind … last week most of the Technopark companies celebrated Onam. There were Pookalam (Floral decorations) competitions, Melams (Drums), Sadhyas (Feast) and what not….

Every company has its turn – ours is usually the last in line. And may I add – it has the grandest (and loudest) celebrations of all. As usual the major highlights were the Pookalam competition and the Sadhya. We also had a Mahabali competition, a Pazhayam theetta (Banana eating) competition, a Chiri malsaram (laughter competition) and a grand Melam/Panchavadhyam accompanied by Theyyam, Kathakali and of course Puli Kali. The Pookalam competition was so fierce that some teams were practically up all night scheming their ‘designs’.

To come back to the quote above, this comment was made when I was describing in vivid detail the happenings last Friday. You know what? Maybe she is right – this was the first time in years that I have seen a live performance of Theyyam and Pulikali. These days Onam to most people signifies little more than a sumptuous feast (many a time a parcel feast ordered from hotels) and a host of programmes on TV (usually watching programmes of past winners of ‘idol’ competitions singing film songs, ‘latest super hit’ movies of ageing super stars and satire programmes with Mahabali (with way too much make up on) as the central character). How many people put Pookalam for 10 days? How many kids these days know about Thrikakarappan? (Why is that funny piece of wood sticking out of the floral arrangement, dude?!!?)

In this cyber age, every sport / celebration has to reinvent itself to survive. Cricket for instance first transformed itself from Nirma whites to pyjama cricket, today we have the ‘Twenty-Twenty’ avatar. It is admirable that while many aspects of Onam have now become commercialised, (case in point - the explosion of jewellery, clothing and consumer electronics ‘offers’) the techies of TVM remember Mahabali and celebrate his yearly visit in their own unique (traditional) fashion.

Long live the technopark Mavelis!

Onashamshakal ! And peace to one and all…..