Onam Fervour catches College Campuses

Onam Fervour catches College Campuses

  • 28 Aug 2017
  • Sunaya
  • Features

WtzupKochi visited three colleges from Ernakulam and got a sneak peek into their Onam celebration plans

Words: Nikhil Wilson   Images from: Sacred Heart College, St. Teresa’s College, St Albert’s College

Come Onam and there is a flurry of activity and excited buzz in colleges. It is one of those rare occasions when the festive fervour engulfs both students and staff equally. We take a tour of a few of the colleges in Kochi to get an insight into what’s cooking in their campuses in the run-up to Onam.

The principal of Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Fr Prasant, spoke about the evolution of Onam celebrations in colleges from the time when he was a young college-goer himself to the youth today. 

“There was not much of a celebration during my childhood. The only Onam celebration memories are of the Onam vacations we got during our school days. In the present scenario, everything is different and what I see is that people are trying to bring back traditions or Onam games from our past.”

Being a college campus, we asked if he felt that the importance of Onam was getting lost with all the celebrations that take place in the name of the festival? “Sometimes, yes. I do feel like the values and importance of this tradition are getting lost. The other thing that makes me uncomfortable is the huge amount of wastage that is being created after the celebrations. I don’t mind celebrations as long as the wastage is limited to the minimum,” said Fr Prasant.

Harikrishnan, a student from the B.Com department of the college said that he and his friends have planned some fun games and competitions for departments within their college, such as Tug of War (Vadum vali), arm wrestling, Onam special pillow fights, breaking the pot (Uri adi) and lots more.

Students from the Communications department of the college said that they conduct a Folk fest, which is a platform to learn and enjoy the folk culture of Kerala and students decorate the entire department in a certain way.

The next destination was St. Teresa’s College. We got in touch with Ms Aleena, who is the newly elected college union chairperson of the college.

“For this year’s Onam celebration, we have planned to perform the Thiruvathirakali with interested students, regardless of the department and the batch. We are hoping for a huge number of students and we plan to shoot this using a drone camera. There will also be games and competitions for teachers, staff, and students,” she said.

At St Albert’s College, we found another group of friends belonging to the Aquaculture department having some fun at the famous stone bench of the college.

“This time, the college Onam celebration and the department Onam celebration are on the same day. The students from our department have started their Onappattu practice and Thiruvathira practice. We have also planned some games for students, teachers and staff of our department. Every department has their own competitions and has Onam sadhya at the end.”

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