Onam Celebration- BIMTECH, Greater Noida

Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), Greater Noida celebrated the festival of Onam with full fervour and zeal on 7th September 2015 in the campus. Students and teachers gathered together and gave their active participation to observe the harvest festival of the South Indian state of Kerala.

Onam is an ancient festival which still survives in modern times. Kerala’s rice harvest festival and the Festival of Rain Flowers, which fall on the month of Chingam, celebrates the Asura King Mahabali’s annual visit from Patala (the underworld). Onam is unique since Mahabali has been revered by the people of Kerala since prehistory.The King is so much attached to his kingdom that it is believed that he comes annually from the nether world to see his people living happily. It is in honour of King Mahabali that Onam is celebrated. The celebrations begin within a fortnight of the Malayalam New Year and go on for ten days. All over the state of Kerala, festive rituals, traditional cuisine, dance and music mark this festival. People of all religions, castes and communities celebrate the festival with equal joy and verve. Onamalso helps to create an atmosphere of peace and brotherhood by way of various team sports organised on the day.

The celebrations started with a vibrant Onapookalam made by the students in the Acaedmic block. The Onapookalam is made out of the gathered blossoms with several varieties of flowers of differing tints pinched up into little pieces to serve the decorator’s purpose. It is considered a work of art accomplished with a delicate touch and a highly artistic sense of tone and blending, similar to the Rangoli in North India. The Director of the college, H.Chaturvedi gave the inaugural speech followed by Prof. K.K Krishnan, who enlightened the students about the significance of this day.

Lunch was a special attraction for the students with whole of the South Indian food consisting of Rasam, Upma, Idli and coconut chutney. All the delicacies were truly mouth-watering.

The evening started with Chendamelam (Dhol) at  6.00pm-“A Traditional Kerala performance in Chenda (drum) and cymbals.” Students and faculties dressed up in traditional South Indian attire of saree and mundu

BIMTECH always strives to establish unity and a sense of belonging among students from various parts of the country and the world as well. Thus festivals like Janmashtami, Pongal and Onam are annually celebrated by the institute for the same purpose.

Please feel free to contact the undersigned in case of any query or comment.