Independence Day, Ganesh Chaturthi & Onam

  

During normal times I would have written a 1500++ word blogpost on each of these 3 events celebrated at Sobha Palladian.

 

Sadly, COVID and the lockdown and the social distancing norms have greatly dampened the mood, the scale as well as the participation levels at these 3 events.

To get an idea on how we celebrated each of these events last year pl click on to these links.

Independence Day @ Sobha Palladian Aug 2019

http://sobhapalladianblogworld.blogspot.com/2019/08/independence-day-sobha-palladian-aug.html

Ganesh Chaturthi Celebration @ Sobha Palladian 2 Sept 2019

http://sobhapalladianblogworld.blogspot.com/2019/09/ganesh-chaturthi-celebration-sobha.html

Onam @ Sobha Palladian

http://sobhapalladianblogworld.blogspot.com/2019/09/onam-sobha-palladian.html

  

While Independence Day and Ganesh Chaturthi were pretty sober events, Onam on the other hand displayed some wonderful spirit of our community. And even against such constrained circumstances the cultural committee pulled off a wonderful show that could only to be matched by the sumptuous Onam Sadhya lunch that followed.

 The lunch was just FANTASTIC.

 Our sincere appreciation to all the organizers, the participants, to the young team that helped in the Poo Kolam, and the famous Sobha Palladian dance troupe !! 

A big shout out and a mega Thank YOU to all of you!!

 

And here is a short summary on each of these events.

Independence day 2020 : As usual the marchpast preparations by the security guard s started 3 week ahead. And I heard the multiple ‘Skvaad Saav-Dhan!!’ and ‘Skvaad Veesh-Ram!!’ and ‘Daahiney se’ Tezz-Chal!!’. Followed by a halfhearted rendering if our national anthem.

On Independence Day however, the Skvaad was energetic and clicked their boots with vigor & enthusiasm!

 And our Tiranga fluttered majestically in the gentle breeze. This time we had a brand-new flag bought to the exact specifications as set by Col Rajiv Kanwar, SM.

Our national flag was unfurled by Anil Bajpai followed by the National Anthem.  In his speech Anil Bajpai said:

Greetings & best wishes to all residents and service providers on 74th Independence Day.

• Gratitude to freedom fighters because of whom we are independent after around 800 years of slavery to foreigner, looters, & aggressors.
• Year 2020 has been unique in the sense that this is the worst epidemic we, in India and World, have faced in the last 100 years or so.
• It is but natural that when we are locked in the 4 walls of our house with family and kids and for such a long time, that our minds develop negativity and distrust.
• This is where we need to move from 4 Cs of Corona, i.e. Comparing, Cribbing, Complaining & Criticizing to the 4 Ps of Perseverance, Patience, Praise & Participation.
• Many Palladians have taken initiatives to help the poor as well as our Service Provider Staff by contributing & facilitating various NGOs towards this noble goal.
• A good number of Samaritans at Palladians have arranged to help the residents by coordinating the availability and delivery of items of daily use as well as essential medical supplies
• Our service providers have gone out of the way to ensure that day-to-day functioning of Palladian continues without and interruption despite curfew and related restriction
• My heart-felt gratitude to such service providers and Palladians towards their selfless work.
• Best wishes for the future and hope that mankind including Palladians will beat the virus successfully.

This time there were no excited children dressed in freedom fighter costumes – no Rani Lakshmi Bai or Rani Kittoor Chinnamma, nor Subhash Chandra Bose, Chandrashekhar Azad or  that charismatic tiny Gandhi!!

 

Nor did we have the lively performances of these valiant young fighters, the energetic commando dance and the loud chorus of ‘Jai Hind’ ringing multiple times in the air!!!And we missed all the ladies. Their brightly colored ‘tiranga’ dresses and their chorus songs.

 And we missed the group of defense officers in their smart uniforms and array of  bravery medals covering their entire chests. 

Only Col. Rajiv Kanwar, SM attended and he  represented his colleagues and Group Captain Chennakeshu, who at 94 years made it his duty to attend this function!

And finally, a vote of Thanks by our secretary, Srini.

"I thank the establishment outside ( Central, State and BBMP) especially health workers and doctors who helped contain spread of virus. 

I thank the residents for their patience with the various restrictions for keeping the virus away. Also  thanks to  the staff who risked themselves in coming regularly and helping us in SP despite the pandemic. 

I now  invite the  staff to have breakfast as usual. "

And then followed the traditional breakfast for all the staff working in Sobha Palladian.

 Ganesh Chathurti 2020

 The Majestic natural mud colored ecofriendly Ganesha stood patiently waiting on the table inside the clubhouse hall.

And post 11AM, the priest Srini and his team carefully installed Ganesh on the beautifully decorated pedestal in front of the club housed and decorated Ganesha with garlands and flowers.

And as people gathered, the prayers and aarathi began, the regular ‘Jai Ganesha Jai Ganesha , Jai Ganesha deva’ rang out on the PA system followed by a few more popular Ganesha songs.

Then Srini took over the mic with an elaborate aarathi and invited all present to offer flowers and seek blessings.

And finally the group broke for the much awaited modakam (modak)  & prasad!!.

 And in the evening, we witnessed a sober  visarjan ceremony!

Ganpathi Bappa Moreyaa,

Mangal Murti Moreyaa.

Ganpathi Bappa Moreyaa,

Pudchya Varshi Laukar Yaa!!

Onam 2020:  

Action started from 9 AM onwards.  Kids and elders gathered to shred flowers and collect brightly colored petals. And the brass lamp got decorated. And a beautiful tapestry of Poo Kolam emerged!

 And a few kids added their contribution and practiced their skills as well.

 The announcement clearly stated that people are welcome to watch the event for their balconies.  Notwithstanding this request a fairly good crowd of onlookers assembled near the fountain area.  Men in Dhotis and ladies in their traditional Onam Mundu (off-whitt saree)

 And then the majestic King Mahabali appeared!!

And he went around d each block and blessed all the folks with his benevolent  smile and gave blessings to all his people.

 A brief mythology on Onam for the uninitiated Folks.

 According to folklore, King Mahabali ruled even before Parasurama is said to have founded Kerala, throwing his axe into the sea and creating land out of it.

 He was a very just & extremely popular King who ruled Kerala and let all his subjects live as one. Thus the popular  Onam song :

Maveli naadu vaneedum kaalam / Manushyar ellaarum onnu pole

The story goes that when King Mahabali became all powerful, even the devas were worried and asked Lord Vishnu to put an end to his supremacy. Vishnu took on the avatar of Vamana, a dwarf, and went before the benevolent king, requesting three paces of land. The king who never said ‘no’ to a request agreed. Vamana then grew in size and covered the earth and the sky in the first two steps and waited for King Mahabali to offer his head to place the third step. The king was then pushed to the nether land but with a boon that he could come back every year to visit the people he had once ruled. 

And that period is the much awaited and much rejoiced ONAM !! 

Poo Kolam : 

Thiruvadirakali!!

The making of Onam dance this time, by Nivedita.

 The cultural committee had started planning for a Sadhya. Following the tradition, we also wanted to have the Pookalam and Thiruvadirakali. Unfortunately, we were clueless how to execute it. We had just a week in hand. We thought we could at least do a video. We were trying to get the committee's views when folks suggested that we should do it live with social distancing norms followed.

We were up for it and excited. But we just had 6 days to decide the song, choreograph it, get the dancers, practice, and make it presentation ready. So, we went to experts Prasheeba and Freeda for the song selection. We decided the song in 10 mins. :). We had to keep it simple and the song was beautiful and apt.

 

The song was Jaya Jaya Nagaketana from the album Aavani sung by K S Chitra. Nikita and I sat to work on the choreography on Sunday, 23rd. We spent about 4 hours to complete the choreography with of course a lot of chitter-chatter. The practice was scheduled Mon-Fri 5:45 pm to 6:45 pm and got all the interested folks. Unfortunately, we couldn't plan a grand one with participants of all ages like the last time but were happy that things were moving... We had to find a place for practice since the clubhouse hall was closed.

We got the approval from MC to practice in the terrace for a week. We got down to 10 participants - Vinaya, Anuradha, Swetha, Vini, Pushpa, Nikita, Prasheeba, Freeda, Dhanu and Niveditha. The ladies used to come spot on time for practice in the masks. Initially seemed like a herculean task to learn a 4 minute song in few days but the dancers picked it up quickly and we were able to complete learning the song within 3 days and worked on getting the grace and coordination and last 3 days.

There were a lot of fun moments during the practice sessions with photoshoots and yummy lemonade, chips and cake provided by Prashee, Freeda, Vini and Pushpa. We also agreed on a common colour for the costume. The highlight was this time we got uniform golden coloured masks matching the Kerala saree.

 All credits to Janhavi for designing and getting us the masks. She ensured it had an ethnic appeal and at the same time was breathable for the dancers. The dance was also designed such that there were no actual kaikoti with partners were done but we did air claps :)

On the performance day we had performance at around 12 pm, with all the Palladian audience and Kiing Mahabali Himself watching and cheering ... It was a great way to start to the festive season in whatever small way we could. And it brought in lot of positivity within and around us😊 

BB Instant Onam Children Drawing Contest :   A wonderful Initiative by Nikita !

Appreciate this innovative idea and the children's imaginations and drawings !

And finally, the much awaited Onam Sadhya!! 

This time we had a sit in feast as well as ‘to-go’ packs for folks who wished   to stay indoors.

And the folks who sat in the function hall enjoyed Onam Sadhya with its unending stream of various types of dishes and in unlimited quantities,

 And folks who got the packed food home delivered had an equally exciting experience!

We spent more than 5 minutes opening each of the 25 odd silver pouches all tightly wrapped with tiny rubber bands.  And as each such pouch opened, we were treated to a wonderful aroma of the small quantity of the dish that we managed to pour into our kinnum (katori)

And each dish was absolutely delicious!

Many thanks to Manoj for his choice of the caterer!

 And this time my sugar level did not shoot up. I ate under the watchful eyes of my wife, Jayanthi!

 And I am eagerly waiting for the next Onam.

And splurge on Onam Sadhya !!

And  a Mrga Thanks to Manoj for his superb photography.  i happily borrowed these wonderful  pictures from his albums ..

SP Onam 2020:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/m1W7ziagUHsnEA3S6

Vinayakachathurti!SP:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/G6md8eZKecFQMnv86

 

Krish..