Every year, Madurai witnesses a very extravagant Malayali cultural extravaganza when members of Vaedi, a cultural organization of Malayalis in Madurai, join together to celebrate Onam with all its cultural and traditional festivities.
Madurai has two well-known local associations for people from Kerala --- the Malayali Samajam, which is over 50 years old, and Vaedi. The latter is the more active one and has around 100 families as members. Once every quarter, the families get together and also showcase the skills of their children through cultural performances like dance.
A place that gives a feel of Kerala within Madurai is AVN Arogya Hospital on the outskirts of the city. Stepping into the premises of this healthcare centre gives you the true glimpse of Kerala culture with its buildings having tiled roofs surrounded by lush green gardens. The Ayyappa temple too is a replica of the one in Kerala.
According to Dr Ramesh Varier, director of AVN Arogya Healthcare, Onam is celebrated in a big way by all of them in Madurai, but it is an occasion to celebrate with one's parents. So usually, it is a meeting of families, but the festival is once again celebrated in Madurai post-Onam about a month after the original festival to keep the spirit alive.
The celebrations include floral floor art the 'pookolam' and a meal cooked with original Kerala delicacies, by cooks from Kerala.
S Jayanarayanan, secretary of the Malayali Samajam that was started in 1962, said they had 91 life members and 100 others. Samajam activities were revived since 2009, when they started promoting their cultural events and helping the poor in their community. A survey conducted by them showed there were about 1,500 families from their community in Madurai, he added.
Counting the number of Malayalis in Madurai would be impossible, for this is a community that has mingled with locals in every possible way. There are persons like J S Sukumar, who is more of a Tamilian than a Malayali, the only thing giving him away is his fluent Malayalam when in the company of people from Kerala.
Malayalis in Madurai speak their native language when at home, but teaching children the script has become a problem to many of them. "My son is more fluent in Tamil rather than Malayalam," said K George from Kerala.
The Malayalis have contributed to the holistic development of Madurai in more than one way. There are outstanding doctors, teachers, engineers and architects in the city as well as the ever-famous friendly tea stall owners.
Source - TOI
Madurai has two well-known local associations for people from Kerala --- the Malayali Samajam, which is over 50 years old, and Vaedi. The latter is the more active one and has around 100 families as members. Once every quarter, the families get together and also showcase the skills of their children through cultural performances like dance.
A place that gives a feel of Kerala within Madurai is AVN Arogya Hospital on the outskirts of the city. Stepping into the premises of this healthcare centre gives you the true glimpse of Kerala culture with its buildings having tiled roofs surrounded by lush green gardens. The Ayyappa temple too is a replica of the one in Kerala.
According to Dr Ramesh Varier, director of AVN Arogya Healthcare, Onam is celebrated in a big way by all of them in Madurai, but it is an occasion to celebrate with one's parents. So usually, it is a meeting of families, but the festival is once again celebrated in Madurai post-Onam about a month after the original festival to keep the spirit alive.
The celebrations include floral floor art the 'pookolam' and a meal cooked with original Kerala delicacies, by cooks from Kerala.
S Jayanarayanan, secretary of the Malayali Samajam that was started in 1962, said they had 91 life members and 100 others. Samajam activities were revived since 2009, when they started promoting their cultural events and helping the poor in their community. A survey conducted by them showed there were about 1,500 families from their community in Madurai, he added.
Counting the number of Malayalis in Madurai would be impossible, for this is a community that has mingled with locals in every possible way. There are persons like J S Sukumar, who is more of a Tamilian than a Malayali, the only thing giving him away is his fluent Malayalam when in the company of people from Kerala.
Malayalis in Madurai speak their native language when at home, but teaching children the script has become a problem to many of them. "My son is more fluent in Tamil rather than Malayalam," said K George from Kerala.
The Malayalis have contributed to the holistic development of Madurai in more than one way. There are outstanding doctors, teachers, engineers and architects in the city as well as the ever-famous friendly tea stall owners.
Source - TOI
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