Onam

Long long ago, there lived a king called Mahabali and in his kingdom people were all happy and content. In his time injustice and crimes were unheard of and peace and harmony were flowing like a river. Well, if you put it in gospel terms, it was nothing but the Kingdom of God. His governance was so good that even the gods were jealous of him. So what happened, they finished him off, from the face of the world and send him to the depths of the earth, for ever. However the king was given a favour to visit his people once in every year. On that day he goes around visiting all the houses and enquiring the well being of his people. They receive him with a beautiful floral decoration and a sumptuous meal. There goes the legend behind Onam. And so, Satyanilayam too is all set to celebrate his coming today. As you saw he is already in our midst and will be meeting each one of us after the Mass.

Dear brothers and sisters, once again the celebration of beauty, love and goodness is at our doorsteps. I take this opportunity to wish a very happy and prosperous Onam to you all. Today we have all the more reason to celebrate because it is the birthday of Br. Robert of Karnataka Province. We wish you a great day Rob, and pray for your near and dear ones. While Onam is a homecoming experience for the legendary King Mahabali, it is a time for the people to recall and relive those heavenly days of their past life. Well, for an outsider Kerala may still seem to be a heaven on earth, owing to the flooding number of tourists to the state and the media impression it has made. While, to a great extend it is true, there are hard facts too.

We have that famous rhetoric ‘God’s own Land’. But we also have devils who appear in political masks and cause constant strikes and hartals which really paralyze the state economy. We boast of a100 percentage literacy; but we also have the highest percentage of educated unemployed in the country. According to a recent National Geographic Channel survey, Kerala is one of the ten safest places in the world to live a peaceful life. However perhaps this may be the only place in the world where one third of its population choose to live outside their homeland, only to make a better living. Well, these are some drastic dichotomies of the social life of Kerala which give ample food for thought even amidst the celebrations.

However when Onam comes, Malayali forgets all his woes and worries. Even from the far corners of the world he will come back to his ancestral home with a hand-full or gifts and a heart-full of nostalgia. Onam for him is not just a temporary flashback of a mythical past; but it is an occasion to dream dreams, dreams about the well being of not only of his home land but also of the entire nation. In-fact a famous Malayalam couplet explains it clearly; when you here the name Kerala, the blood in your wanes must burst with joy, but when you hear the name ‘Bharat’ your entire being must swell with pride.

Again, Onam has several attributes. Basically being a harvest festival it is also known as festival of flowers, festival of colours, festival of beauty, festival of food and so on. However above all it is a festival of goodness, the goodness in every human hearts. And it is in this way Onam becomes a celebration of each one of us barring all those narrow domestic walls of cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences. Because we are all people with something good in us. So come friends, let us celebrate that goodness within us and celebrate Onam! Thank you.














Long long ago, there lived a king called Mahabali and in his kingdom people were all happy and content. People were unheard of injustice and crimes and peace was flowing like a river. Well, if you put it in gospel terms, it was nothing other the Kingdom of God. His governance was so good that even the gods at heavens were jealous of him. So what happened, they wanted to finish him off. Finally they managed to crush him under their feet and send him to the depths of the earth for ever. However the king was given a favour that is to visit his people once in every year. On that day he goes around visiting all the houses and enquiring his people’s well being. They receive him with pookkalam, the floral decoration and a sumptuous meal which is made of the fruits from their own fields. And so, Stayanilayam too is all set to celebrate his coming today. Well, according to the last reports he is expected to be in Chennai by noon and visit us soon, if the flight is on time.

Dear Fathers, Brothers and sisters, once again the celebration of beauty, love and goodness is at our doorsteps. I take this opportunity to wish a very happy and prosperous Onam to you all. While Onam is a homecoming experience for the legendary King Mahabali, it is a time for the people to recall their glorious past which was filled with goodness and goodness alone. Well, for an outsider Kerala may still seem to be a heaven on earth, owing to the flooding number of tourists to the state and the media impression it has made. While, to a great extend it is true, beyond the facade there are hard facts too.

We have that famous rhetoric ‘God’s own Land’. However often you will see devils also in the forms ‘instant’ strikes and ‘hot’ hartals which really paralyse the state economy. We boast of a100 percentage literacy; but we also have the highest percentage of educated unemployed youth in the country. Thanks for an excellent health care system; Keralits have an average life expectancy of 80 years which is equal to some of the most developed countries in the world. But it seems that people don’t want to make use of the possibility of a longer life or what other explanation can be given for the state’s highest suicide rate?!

According to a recent National Geographic Channel survey, Kerala is one of 10 safest places in the world to live in. But the irony is that it is from this same paradise, an unsatisfied younger generation tries to escape in search of a better living and thus gives birth to ‘old age villages’, a new phenomenon in kerala. No doubt, these are some drastic dichotomies of the social life of the present day Kerala which the King Mahabali is going to witness during his visit to his home land this time. And seeing these new trends in his kingdom he will definitely be wonderstruck if not bewildered.

Onam for a Malayali, is not just a temporary indwelling in the mythical flashback of the days gone by; but it is an occasion to dream dreams, dreams about a better tomorrow, not only of himself but also of the entire nation as such. And it is therefore the meaning of a famous Malayalam couplet goes like this; when you here the name Kerala, the blood in your wanes must burst with joy, but when you hear the name ‘Bharat’ your entire being must swell with pride.

Again, Onam has several attributes; like it is the festival of flowers, festival of colours, festival of beauty, festival of harvest, festival of food and so on and so forth. However above all it is a festival of goodness, the goodness in every human hearts. And so it becomes the feast of each one of us because we are all people with something good in us. And it is in this way Onam becomes a celebration of each one of us barring all those narrow domestic walls of cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences...Are you someone with something good in you, come let us celebrate it and celebrate Onam!





















As some of you may know the myth behind this celebration, it is a legend turned harvest festival turned the celebration of a nation. It is the story of the goodness of the legendary king Mahabali who ruled Kerala in the ancient times. His governance was so good that even the gods were jealous of him. And so they sent Vamana to finish him off from the earth. Vamana played a nice trick and finished his duty by sending the good king to the depths of the earth for ever. However the king was given a favour, to visit his people once in a year. On that day he goes around visiting all the houses and about the well being of his people. And thus we celebrate today

While Onam is a homecoming experience for the legendary King Mahabali, it is a time for the people to recall their glorious past. During the governance of the want to we also have the highest suicide rate as if the people are indifferent towards the possibility of a longer living