The city's Malayali community gathered again last Saturday, September 2 to celebrate the festival of Onam under the umbrella of city-based social and cultural organisation Kerala Cultural Forum.
Dineshkumar Chattikal, President of KCF, said, “With over 450 people attending, this was one of the biggest ever Onam celebrations in the Garden City. As expected, the highlight of the day was the delicious feast of Onam called Onam sadya, and thanks to Binoy Kuriakose and his team for preparing such delicious and mouth watering food, which was praised by one and all.”
The chief guest of the day was Christchurch City Councillor Jimmy Chen, who said, “I was delighted and honoured to attend the Onam festival at Middleton Grange School today. I got to know that Onam is the biggest and the most important festival of the state of Kerala. It is a harvest festival, and is celebrated with joy and enthusiasm all over the state by people of all communities. The celebrations here were wonderful.”
The gathering also appreciated Vibi Krishna and his team for an outstanding stage décor and pookkalam [floral carpet].
“This time, we also introduced a KCF achievement award, whose first recipient was Uma Verma and her dancing school Revathi Performing Arts. This was in recognition for her devotional work for classical dance in Christchurch,” added Mr Chattikal.
Among others, the organisers also acknowledged Mr Rajeshwar from the Telugu Association South Island for helping them during the event