The Onam menu

Being out of Kerala has its disadvantages and one of them is that you don' t get holidays for Onam.
Once I was in Kerala during Onam and what a week long celebration. The Kodam oothi thullal stands out in my memory. A type of dance in which girls dance around in a circle with earthen pots which they blow into, creating a resonance which can be heard real far. And then they toss the pots to the alternate person. The skill lies in doing it simultaneously, blow toss, blow toss, blow toss and all this without the pots banging into each other. I have seen many pots being broken till they attain perfection.
During that time my uncle's parents took me to see the Alleppey Boat race and it was really an experience. I mean seeing it on TV is one thing and seeing it live is something different. It is beyond comprehension that such a long boat with just man power can slide over the water at such tremendous speed. I tried running along the bank with it but could not keep up. If you are
wondering about the crowd, this was about 40 years ago so the crowd was not what it is now. (I am not a very good sprinter is another matter)
So I took leave today with the intention of helping wifey in her onam preparations. I don’t know how much I helped but succeeded in clicking some good pics.

To see the actual menu click on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joezach/3880260105/