-- Samir Umarye BICHOLIM AUG 29: About 400 Malayalee families residing in Goa celebrated Onam festival for two days at Bordem Bicholim.
Onam, the most popular festival in Kerala, is the day when the legendary Asura king Mahabali visits his subjects. Mahabali had turned his kingdom into a virtual paradise on earth and the ‘devas’ could not tolerate this and they sought the help of Lord Vishnu to eliminate Mahabali. Vamana approached Mahabali who was conducting a yajna and asked for three steps of land for which the king agreed readily. The dwarf sized Vamana grew into the skies and with one step covered the earth and with another step the heavens. With no place to keep the third step, Mahabali offered his head, which was pushed by Vamana into the netherworld. But before sending Mahabali to the netherworld, Lord Vishnu gave Bali the boon that he can visit his subjects once in a year. The day Mahabali visits his subjects is celebrated as Onam. In Bicholim the festival was organised by the Kalpak Cultural Association - Bicholim for two days on Auguest 28 and 29 at Mahamaya Temple hall Bordem -Bicholim. Karalites residing in Pernem, Bardez, Bicholim and Sattari taluka took part in the festival. On the first day several cultural programmes were held. The special attraction for the second day was the 'Panchavadyam' presented by the famous group of artists headed by Purushothaman from Kerala. Besides this 'onasadya' (Traditional vegetarian lunch) also served as a special attraction of the day. The organisers had invited a special cook from Kerala for preparing 'onasadya' which had in all 21 items. The speaker of Goa Assembly, Pratapsingh Rane and the local MLA, Rajesh Patnekar also enjoyed the lunch on this occassion. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Now available in Toronto, a few copies of *Into The Diaspora Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho. Contact Bosco D'Mello bo...@goanet.org (416) 803-7264 http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/
