KOCHI:

Emirates has a surprise for traveller flying to Kerala, India to celebrate Onam, the celebration of the Kerala harvest season. It has laid out a myriad of delicious treats onboard and an array of entertaining Malayalam movies. From August 20  to 31, 2023, authentic Onam dishes will be served across all cabin classes, on flights to and from Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai.

Onboard the 14 times weekly Emirates flight to Kochi, and the 7 times weekly Emirates flight to Thiruvananthapuram, curated menus with the distinctive flavours of Onam will be offered, giving travellers a taste of home. Passengers will enjoy traditional appetisers of sharkara upperi – banana roasted in sweet jaggery, kaya varuthathu – crisp banana chips and kondattam mulaku – fried sundried chillies steeped in yoghurt. Passengers will also have a selection of tasty dips essential for Onam, including kaalan made of coconut, fresh yoghurt and yam, cucumber pachadi – a garnished salad, and puli inji – a sweet and tangy ginger-based chutney. First and Business Class passengers will also be served Kerala-style pappadam and piquant mango pickle.

A delectable choice of main courses will follow including alleppey kozhi curry – spiced chicken in coconut sauce, served with avial, chemba rice and cabbage carrot thoran, or vegetarian sadhya – sambar and kootu, paired with matta rice and carrot pea thoran, spiced chicken sukha – pan-fried chicken with coconut and spices, steamed rice, carrot pea thoran and vegetable kootu, or mutton sukha with chemba rice, erissery and bean thoran. First Class customers can also choose the tasty option of mutton pepper fry.

Desserts will include Onam favourites like palada pradhaman- creamy rice pudding served with roasted pistachios, raisins, and cashew nuts, or parippu payasam – the popular sweet lentil pudding topped with roasted coconut flakes. Staying true to the festive season, all meals will be served on banana leaf dish liners to offer an authentic feel to the sadhya for Keralites.

To make the journey even more memorable, those celebrating Onam can enjoy more than 6,500 channels of entertainment on Emirates award-winning ice, more than 45 Academy Award winning films, over 2,000 movies, 650 TV shows, and 4,000 hours of music, podcasts, and audiobooks across 40 languages. 18 Malayalam movies including award-winning titles like Ela Veezha Poonchira, Hridayam and blockbusters Bro Daddy and 12th Man are currently available on ice.

Emirates celebrates a wide range of global cultures inflight and is passionate about delighting customers with regionally inspired cuisine and special seasonal menus. From Onam to Diwali, Eid, Chinese New Year, Christmas, and Oktoberfest to Easter – many festivals are celebrated, creating thoughtful experiences for all global travellers.

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DUBAI:

Ahead of the summer school break in the UAE, airfares to the Indian subcontinent and the United Kingdom, will skyrocket, according to travel industry sources,

Airfares started rising from February-March to Asia, the Middle East and the UK. The travel industry has traditionally seen a spurt in fares during the summer holidays and Eid holidays. Fares to popular cities such as London are set to double during the peak summer travel days and during Eid Al Adha.

Air India has added some flights on the UAE route during the summer, providing temporary stability on certain days.

Travel peaks during the summer holidays when schools are closed, pushing airfares substantially higher. During summer breaks, Indian curriculum schools are usually closes in the first week of July. Since Eid Al Adha is likely to fall on June 28, some schools may choose to close a week or so early. British schools are closed from June onwards till the last week of August or 1st week of September.

Over the past few years, short-haul destinations such as East European and CIS countries have been in top demand for travel and tourism among UAE residents.

An industry source said that people have started booking early and airfares started increasing from February-March onwards on the Indian Sub-continent and European routes because Eid is also falling at the beginning of the vacation, hence, schools may close early this year.

He said that rates are rising because there are no additional seats allocated during summer and airlines are making the most of this seasonal advantage. There is increased traffic to South India because of the Onam festival in August.

Airfares to India are steady at the moment as the carrier has added some more flights.

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In Kerala they say during Onam, ‘Even if you have to sell your most valuable things, you have to relish Onam feast’ (Kaanam vittum Onam unnanam’). This time another saying would come to their aid, ‘Enjoy Onam with what you have’ (Ullathu kondu Onam pole). Onam 2020 will be like no other in recent memories.

Malayalis rush home to Kerala from all corners of the world if they can to celebrate the harvest festival of Onam. This year, Onam for Malayalis across the world would be a much subdued affair. Gone is the rush to the bazaars on Uthradom day to stock up for the feast during Onam days. With social distancing the norm, and COVID-19 playing truant, Malaylis can’t come together to revive the old memories at their ancestral home this year. Some have planned an Onam online. Even as the government claim that the death rate and infection rate is way below the average, this unusual times call for vigil and caution.

Even Kerala Tourism has taken the grand celebrations online. Its 10-day festival started on August 22 and will draw to a close on September 2. The Tourism Department’s ‘Onam Fest Kerala’ features a bouquet of heritage arts and celebratory rituals alongside new-age cultural programmes—all of it online. Of the events beamed so far, the Panchari Melam ensemble alone earned as many as one million eyeballs.

Grand feasts, enthralling boat races, traditional art forms and a pookalam in each courtyard, #Onam is #Kerala at her prettiest. #HappyOnam pic.twitter.com/3QrH2LPDJi

— Kerala Tourism (@KeralaTourism) September 4, 2017

On the day of Thiruonam (August 31) is a Kathakali show, followed by a live band performance and an Onam theme film the subsequent days. On August 29 was Family Onam Celebrations and Job Kurian’s music show (is on Sunday). All programmes are at 7 pm.

The ‘Sadya’ banquet was up on social media on the afternoon of August 27, with a row of people in ethnic Kerala dress sitting cross-legged on floor-mats and eating with the hand an array of dishes for the rice served on banana leaves. The classical value of different types of curries, fried vegetables, rounded pappadams, pickles, chutneys and two courses of payasam desserts came to the fore with the anchor explaining (in English) the order and manner of serving each dish, besides a brief on their ingredients and recipe.

A message Kerala Tourism’s Facebook page says is quite relevant during this testing times. ‘This Onam, let us relive the good times when Mahabali ruled the land and people lived in peace and harmony’.

For the past three years, various natural disasters have struck this small piece of land on the southern tip of India. Legend has it that Lord Parashuram threw his axe and the seawater receded to reveal the land that is Kerala. The past three years have seen the verdant land struck repeatedly by floods throwing normal life out of gear. As if the waters are claiming back what is rightfully theirs.

Each time when it overcomes misfortunes and tragedy and gets into a celebratory mood, misfortune strikes the land and the people again. It is in the midst of this that Keralites are celebrating Onam 2020. Donning new traditional clothes (shirt and dhothi for all men and traditional Saree for women) and relishing the Onam feast is de rigueur for the Malayali anywhere in the world. Be it in Kerala, anywhere in India, in the Arab world or the western nations, the Malayali has to don their traditional dress and sitting down on a mat on the floor, they eat from a plantain leaf, considered the most traditional way of celebrating the festival.

While the preparations for the feast start a day earlier, the food itself is cooked and laid out by afternoon in most houses in Kerala. And any guest who walks in on the day of Onam is considered as Mahabali, the Asura king who is believed to have ruled this beautiful land, and is offered a full meal in all houses. Such incidents have been recounted by old timers.

The ten-day long floral carpet or the athapookalam is another ritual that was an integral part of Onam celebrations for children and there were often competitions held by various organisations for the best floral carpets. This is another custom that has been observed in a subdued manner this time round.

Even though Kerala’s Onam celebrations have sort of transformed into a communal affair with successive governments spending huge amounts to hold various programmes for over three decades now, Onam 2020 would be the most subdued one in recent memory. Onam celebrations had also transformed into more of a tourist attraction with lots of foreigners making a beeline for God’s Own Country come August-September. The elephant pageantry and the various cultural programmes organised across the State were huge attractions for tourists both Indian and foreign. This year all such celebrations have been cancelled and few tourists were seen in the cities of Kerala.

A shocking change from the past is in the Malayalam cinema industry. COVID-19 had stopped the movie industry on its tracks and departing from tradition no Onam releases have been announced, that too during a season when cinemas of Malayali heartthrobs Mammooty and Mohanlal become huge grossers. OTT releases have been planned but crowds at the cinema halls will be missed and the huge earnings from this industry that feed thousands won’t materialise pushing many into hardship.

Like they say, changes are inevitable and all these new precautions, hygiene standards, and health protocols would hopefully pave way for a new society that is more caring and mindful of others in the community. We will hopefully enjoy a more vibrant Onam next year that harks back to the past glory of this wonderful land.

The post Celebrating Onam in the shadow of a pandemic appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

In a message, he said: “I convey my heartiest Onam greetings to the people of Kerala and other Keralites all over the world.

“I sincerely wish that every home is blessed with prosperity and plenty, during this Onam season. May the melody and sparkle of Onam fill our minds with the joy of festivity. Let Onam also be a celebration of our love and oneness which enabled us to overcome adversities with fortitude,” he said.

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A video released by Kerala Tourism on its Facebook channel displayed the culinary richness of the coastal state which is abuzz with the annual preparations for Onam, this time on August 31. The 18-minute audiovisual treat explains the variety in the taste and material of the delicacies in the multi-course vegetarian lunch, called ‘Sadya’ in the state’s Malayalam language.

The video premiere comes as part of an ongoing two-week-long virtual endeavour saluting the spirit of Onam. The run-up to the harvest festival, too, has its traditional significance, chiefly marked by the 10 days of laying of the flower-carpet that symbolically welcome the mythological Mahabali whose rule was marked by the prosperity of his subjects.

The Tourism Department’s August 22-September 2 ‘Onam Fest Kerala’ features a bouquet of heritage arts and celebratory rituals alongside new-age cultural programmes—all of it online. The viewership has been encouraging, with 3 million views till Friday morning. Of the events beamed so far, the Panchari Melam ensemble alone earned as many as one million eyeballs.

Coming up, on the day of Onam (Monday) is a Kathakali show, followed by a live band performance and an Onam theme film the subsequent days. This weekend will host Family Onam Celebrations (Saturday) and Job Kurian’s music show (Sunday). All programmes are at 7 pm.

The ‘Sadya’ banquet was up on social media on Thursday afternoon, with a row of people in ethnic Kerala dress sitting cross-legged on floor-mats and eating with the hand an array of dishes for the rice served on banana leaves. The classical value of different types of curries, fried vegetables, rounded pappadams, pickles, chutneys and two courses of payasam desserts came to the fore with the anchor explaining (in English) the order and manner of serving each dish, besides a brief on their ingredients and recipe.

Mr Kadakampally Surendran, Tourism Minister, said the online festival showcases performances that unveil the legends of Onam and the values it upholds over centuries. The coronavirus pandemic may have muted the celebrations, but not the spirit of Onam as a festival of hope, harmony and love, he said in a message.

“The Government of Kerala has made arrangements to celebrate the festival, following COVID protocols. Extra safety precautions will be taken and there won’t be celebrations in public places,” he added, greeting the people.

Ms. Rani George, Secretary, Kerala Tourism, said ‘Onam Fest Kerala’ is in tune with a new world order that continues to maintain social distancing to curtail the spread of the disease. “Kerala Tourism is creating an opportunity for travellers across the world to experience our Culture and Heritage through the social media.”

Mr. P. Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism, said the online festival has provided the rest of the states with a model for traditional cultural events amid COVID-19.

The festival began on August 22 with a Panchari Melam session featuring Kerala’s ethnic Chenda, drums, Cymbals, horns and pipes. This was followed by the Kerala Natanam dance (August 23), Onam folk songs (August 24), Pulikali- tiger dance (August 25) and Onapottan folk character and Sadya (August 27). On August 28 evening is multi-instrumentalist Tao Issaro’s Onam songs.

Amid isolation, Onam “brings us the perfect way to go across borders and share joy and togetherness with friends and family all over the world”, Kerala Tourism Facebook page said.

Kerala Tourism

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In his address to the nation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana till November end, helping over 80 crore people to avail 5 kg free food grains. The Prime Minister said this extension will cost over Rs 90,000 crore.
Excerpts from Mr. Modi’s address to the nation:
India is now entering Unlock-Two in our fight against the corona pandemic. We are also entering the season of increasing cases of cough, cold and fever. I, therefore, request all of you to take special care of yourselves
Friends, considering corona’s death rate, India is comparatively in a better position compared to many countries of the world. Timely imposition of lockdown and other decisions have saved lakhs of lives. But we have also seen that since Unlock-One, there is increasing negligence in personal and social behaviour. Earlier, we were very careful with respect to wearing of masks, social distancing and washing of hands for 20 seconds. But today, when we need to be more careful, increasing negligence is a cause of worry.
Friends, rules were followed very strictly during the Lockdown. Now governments, local bodies, citizens, need to show similar alertness. Especially, we need to focus more on containment zones. Those not following the rules will need to be stopped and cautioned. You must have seen in the news, Prime Minister of a country was fined Rs.13,000 for not wearing a mask in public place. In India too, the local administration should work with the same enthusiasm. This is a drive to protect the lives of 130 crore countrymen. Be it a village pradhan or the Prime Minister, no one is above the law in India
Friends, nation’s top priority during the lockdown was to ensure that no one remains hungry. Central government, state governments, civil society, all did their best… to ensure that no one goes to bed hungry. Be it a nation or a person, timely and sensible decisions increase our power to fight any crisis. Thus, immediately after the lockdown, the government brought out the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. Under this scheme, a package worth Rs.1.75 lakh crore was provided for the poor.
In the last three months, 20 crore poor households have received direct benefit transfers worth Rs.31,000 Crore. During this period, Rs.18,000 crore have been deposited in bank accounts of over 9 Crore farmers. Simultaneously, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan was quickly launched for employment of Shramiks in rural areasGovernment is spending Rs. 50,000 Crore on this.
India, over 80 crore people were given free ration for three months. It means, every member of the family was given 5 kilogram wheat or rice, free of cost. In addition, every family got one kilogram pulse a month, free of cost. In a way, over 2.5 times the population of the United States, 12 times the population of the United Kingdom and double the population of the European Union was given free ration by our government.
July marks beginning of the festive season. 5th July is Guru Purnima, then month of Saawan is starting. Then 15th August is coming, Raksha Bandhan, Sri Krishna Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam will follow. Further, Kati Bihu, Navratri, Durga Puja is coming, then Dussera, Diwali and Chhath. This festive season increases necessities as well as expenditure.
Keeping the festive season in mind, it has been decided to extend Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana up to Diwali and Chhath Puja, till November-end.
Free ration to 80 crore people will continue in July, August, September, October, November. The government will provide free ration to 80 crore poor brothers-sisters for five months. Every member of family will get five kilogram wheat or rice. Also, every family will get one kilogram whole chana a month, free of cost.
Over Rs.90 thousand crore will be spent on this extension of PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. If we add expenditure of last three months on this scheme, then it comes to around Rs.1.5 lakh crore.
One Nation, One Ration card is also being implemented. Major beneficiaries of this will be those who go to other states, in search of employment.
Today, if the government is able to provide free ration to the needy and poor, then credit for it goes to two categories. One – hard working farmers of our country. Second – honest taxpayers of our country. It is your hard work and dedication, due to which the nation is able to do it. You have filled the stocks of the nation, therefore, there is food in kitchen of poor, workers.You paid the tax honestly, you fulfilled your duty. That is why, the poor of the country is successfully coping with such a big crisis. On behalf of all the poor of the country, I express my heartfelt gratitude to all the taxpayers and farmers, and also salute them.
In the coming days, we will further strengthen our efforts and continuously work to empower the poor, downtrodden and deprived sections of society. While taking all the precautions, we will further expand the Economic Activities. We will work ceaselessly for Atmanirbhar Bharat. We all will be vocal for Local. With this pledge and commitment, the 130 crore people of this country will have to work together and move forward together.

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