MOTHERLAND

The land which gave birth to my beautiful mother,
The land which raised her to be a free-thinking spirit like many others,
The land which she left behind to give her family a better life,
The land which she longs to go back to.

The land which fought for its liberty,
The land which was once held in captivity,
The land which has lost many,
The land whose riches and culture were taken away in plenty.

The land whose blood runs in my veins,
The land which is trying to break free from its chains,
The land I am eager to be familiar with,
The land which with each visit still remains a myth.

My motherland has its flaws. But who doesn't? Every country has a crooked past, a corrupt present and an uncertain future. My motherland has been trampled on and stolen from, but it still remains to be a booming country. Yes my motherland has its flaws, but my goodness it is a great nation; seasoned with all kinds of weather and filled with a variety of tradition, values and languages.

One day, I hope to make a long visit to the country that is in the forefront of lending the world an array of inspirational individuals. I want to be a part of my motherland's history. I want her to be proud of the person I am and the person I will be. I want to take my children to her warm embrace and for my descendants to smell her earthly aroma on a regular basis. So that even generations from now, my bloodline will remain faithful to my motherland. They will remember the food, the colours, the dance, the music and the breath-taking views. They will remember the extremities that people live in and strive to close the gap that's currently tearing the civilians apart from each other.

The land which gave birth to my beautiful mother,
The land which raised her and myself to be a free-thinking spirit,
The land which she left behind to give her family a better life,
The land which I will take her back to in order to relive her childhood.

The land which won its independence,
The land which was strengthened by captivity,
The land which has lost and gained many,
The land whose riches and culture are enjoyed in plenty.

The land whose blood still runs in my veins,
The land which is breaking free from its chains,
The land which I am becoming familiar with,
The land which with each visit will always remain a precious myth.

FLOWERS, FOOD AND A POCKET FULL OF FUN

Onam

I would wake up bright and early and put on my brand new set saree (a traditional South Indian outfit which is unique to Kerala due to it being white with gold borders and design, as seen below). Adorning myself in gorgeous jewellery bought from India from the recent trip, I would make my way with my family to the celebrations taking place in town.

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Originally a Hindu festival, it is a celebration that brings together people of all religions. Legend says that Kerala was once ruled by a king named Mahabali and Onam is a celebration of his return from the underworld. This is a rough translation of a song that's often sung on this day:

"When Maveli ruled the land,

All the people were equal.

And people were joyful and merry;

They were all free from harm.

There was neither anxiety nor sickness,

Deaths of children were unheard of,

There were no lies,

There was neither theft nor deceit,

And no one was false in speech either.

Measures and weights were right;

No one cheated or wronged his neighbor.

When Maveli ruled the land,

All the people formed one casteless races"

There are many beautiful rituals and practices that take place over the course of the celebration and I'm going to briefly tell you about my favourite aspects of Onam:

പൂക്കളം (Pookalam)

This is a work of art. In a group, you gather flowers and create a beautiful floral carpet in front of your house in an attempt to attract Mahabali to visit your house.

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ഓണസദ്യ (Feast of Onam)

Quite simply the most magnificent thing about Onam is the banquet that everyone eats together. Around 26 vegetarian curries is served with rice on a plantain leaf. 

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തിരുവാതിര (Thiruvathira)

As a lover of dance, I always loved taking part in this performance. The dance is performed in a circle and is traditionally carried out by women.

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വടംവലി (Tug of War)

This is exactly what the title says but twice the fun.

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There we have it. A breakdown of one of my favourite festivals of Kerala. 

This year will be the first time in my life that I'm not celebrating Onam with anyone. I loved going and seeing everyone in the Indian community but things have changed over the year. Relationships and ties were broken and the sense of happiness is now tarnished with the question 'what if..?'

Oh how I wish I could spend Onam in God's own country...

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ഓണാശംസകൾ (Happy Onam) to all those reading my blog!

RETURNING TO THE MOTHERLAND

~Image taken from Google~

The land of delicious curry, piping hot chai tea and an array of colours that become embedded in your visual cortex from the spices, dyes and sarees that you see.

The extremely polite children, the love of cricket and the infamous train journeys that take you on a whirlwind of an experience up and down the country.

Not to mention the mix of the old and new whereby you can still see how the land and its people lived hundreds of years ago mixed with areas with infrastructure and technology which is light years ahead of its time.

INDIA

I've never really felt close to my motherland, India.

Maybe it's because I was born and brought up in Oman for 9 years and was then whisked away to live in England for a further 10 years and counting.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who had this type of childhood and yet all the other Indian teens I knew felt a strong connection back to their native land. It was as though I was being left out of the warm embrace that India was giving everyone else. But I just couldn't bring myself to connect with the land of my forefathers.

I always used to wonder why this was the case: is it the way I was tormented for my skin colour whenever I was over there or the way some aspects of the culture went totally against what I believed in? 

Recently, I have begun to appreciate all of India's glory. I've been focusing 19 or so years of my life on the negative aspects of this beautiful country.

I forgot the smell of the damp earth that fills your nose as you step out of the plane.

I forgot the experience of playing outside in the monsoon season, getting lost in the rain.

I forgot the different cultures and traditions that follow the 29 states,

each filled with their own characteristic traits.

From Jammu and Kashmir to Kerala, I forgot the colours, the music, the different styles of dance, the history and every little thing that makes India one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world.

By reading about British imperialism and how it affected Indians, I have begun to realise the hardships and pure terror my motherland has faced. The struggle and blood that has been shed in order to give its descendants freedom will never be forgotten.

Needless to say, I'm starting to not appreciate the stereotypes that are being associated with Indians. Nor the fact that people are using Indian traditions as a fashion statement. But it goes to show that India will always influence the world in one way or another.

So what spurred me on to realise all of this? Well, it all began when I went to Morocco. Strange, I know! In Morocco, all of the cinemas play Bollywood movies. Most of the fabrics that you see in Morocco was inspired by the delicate designs that  Indian designers portray onto the fabric. As you walk through the souks, some of the stalls even play iconic Bollywood music. The hagglers on the street ask me if I'm Indian and their faces fill with joy when I say "Yes, I'm an Indian." as they frantically attempt to act out famous film scenes. Seeing the way the Moroccans admired all things Indian made me realise how wonderful my motherland is.

I am ashamed to say that it has taken me 19 years to realise this...

But I adore India.

~Image taken from Pinterest~