Did Onasadya lost its charm?

When software engineer Advaith S Chandran treated his group of North Indian colleagues to a sumptuous sadya, replete with 19 dishes and two varieties of payasam, they relished it. This is the famed Onasadya, he told his friends. Except, all this happened in February, a good seven months before the festival and the venue, a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram that serves sadya all the year around at an affordable price.

With such things happening, does Onasadya only means a meal with payasam? A motif to keep up our tradition?

Culinary expert Pazhiyadom Mohanan Namboothiri concurs, saying, “Onasadya has surely lost its appeal, with people now considering any meal that has payasam as a wholesome sadya.” The 61-year-old master chef recalls how Onam used to be a big celebration as it followed the quiet month of Karkidakam. “So, Onam witnessed a surge of energy and it kept people on their toes. Everyone in the family used to be involved in the making of the sadya as it used to be a one-off, grand affair,” he says, adding that with Onasadya available through caterers and hotels, Thiruvonam has now become a day of relaxation for many.

Historian Malayinkeezhu Gopalakrishnan says that in the past, the preparations for Onasadya used to start at least 10 days in advance. “Back then, we had pradhaman only during Onam and that made it so much special and delicious, of course,” he says. To make the ada or rice batter for the ada pradhaman, they had to pound the rice, paste it onto a leaf and then roast it before cutting it to pieces. “The whole process was sacred in a way as we raised sheets to cover the dried ada so that no impurities fell into it. We even sourced the jaggery from farmers and plucked and dried cashew nuts at home. And then we used to anxiously wait for two days, sometimes even without sleep for the Onasadya,” he recalls.

It’s a stark contrast to the current scenario, the 68-year-old says. “In my younger days, we could see these many dishes spread on a banana leaf only during Onam or weddings. Now, every other hotel serves at least 10 dishes on a normal day. Even for payasam, ready mix ada is available, which doesn’t offer the same relishing taste as those prepared in a traditional way at our homes in the past,” he opines. “Now, you have sadya every day.”

While Onasadya may be losing its appeal in Kerala, it still caters to the nostalgia for Malayalis abroad. Advaith’s father Sabu Chandran, who has been working in Abu Dhabi for the past 30 years, says, “In the 90s, expatriates used to yearn to return to Kerala during Onam — just so we could have the joy of eating Onasadya together with our families. But since the turn of the millennium, those of us in the Gulf celebrate it with all its vigour. We now want to stay back or return from Kerala soon so we could be part of the celebrations in the Gulf.”

Sabu also says that the Onasadya has helped mend the eating habits among NRI children. “A lot of kids like Advaith, who grew up in the Gulf, don’t have a particular liking for anything vegetarian. But serve them the Onasadya on the banana leaf and they would wipe it clean. That’s the respect for the Onam tradition that we have created among the children because of the parents’ nostalgia,” he says.