Bhavana: Malayalam actress who has made a name for herself in Tamil too. Her recent Tamil release Arya with Madhavan in the lead is a hit.
The images that come to my mind when I think of Onam are the 'Onam' exams and the 'Onam' vacation. Though I grew up in Kerala, I don't have any experience of getting up early in the morning, plucking flowers and designing a pookkalam. I grew up in a nuclear family where I had only my parents and my brother as company.
It was not Onam that I looked forward to with great anticipation but the school vacation. So, I only remember going out, playing from morning till evening with my brother and watching films during Onam.
But one thing I enjoyed was the Onam sadya. Also, the variety of chips my mother freshly made at home. We used to simply love it.
My mother used to wake me up early in the morning and push me to the temple. Otherwise, I hated getting up early and taking a bath in the morning. I used to ask her, 'It's vacation time. Why should I get up and take a bath so early?' My mother would not allow me that luxury on Onam day. My friends also used to ask me, 'Are you not ashamed to be a Malayali and not have a pookkalam at home?' Unless you have many members at home, it is not fun to have pookkalam and all that.
These days, I am mostly shooting even on Onam day. If it's a Malayalam film, we have an excellent sadya on the sets but I miss Onam sadya if I am shooting a Tamil film.
Last year, I was shooting for the Tamil film Deepavali, and that was the first time I missed Onam and Onam sadya. What I did was I gave special Onam payasam to everyone in the unit. This year also, I am on a Tamil set. So, there will only be wishing 'Happy Onam' this year!
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