On 27th August 2019, the students of LIBA celebrated the Onam festival which symbolizes the onset of the harvest season in Kerala. The celebrations were carried out with much of pomp and grandeur. To double the joy of the occasion, Teachers Day was also celebrated alongside the Onam celebrations. The entire LIBA family came dressed in the traditional Kerala attire; men in mundu and women draped in saree. The event commenced with invoking the blessings of Almighty Lord followed by lighting of the lamp and cake cutting by our Director Rev. Fr. Joe Arun alongside our beloved faculty and staff.
Post the Teacher’s Day celebrations, Mahabali, the King who visits every year during the harvest season graced the occasion with a stunning entry. He was welcomed with the thundering sounds of “Chenda Melam” and showering of flowers. Mahabali conveyed his Onam greetings to the crowd who had gathered to get a glimpse of his persona.
Women dressed in beautiful white sarees performed the Thiruvathira, the traditional dance for Onam. The performance invoked a feeling of peace and happiness amongst the crowd. This was followed by a light hearted game of “Lemon and Spoon” for the ladies and gentlemen. What followed soon was a light-hearted game of “lemon and spoon”. After the entertainment filled game round, the aromatic fragrance of the Onam Sadhya pulled the people towards the lunch tables. The Sadhya was a lavish spread of 15 different traditional vegetarian dishes from Kerala. To satisfy the sweet tooth, there were 2 variants of delicious payasam being served. The cameras captured the fun-filled moments of talks and laughter of people eating the Sadhya.
Post lunch, a performance of Chenda Melam pulled the crowd to the dance floor to showcase some energetic dance moves. Following the Chenda Melam were eye catching dance performances of various groups consisting students from the F18 and F19 batches.
The eagerly awaited “Tug of War” event followed the dance performances. The environment quickly changed to that of competition as the clans prepared themselves for the challenge to find out who is the strongest amongst them all. At the end of the event the F19s sweeped the competition by winning in both the Male and Female categories. The celebrations concluded with a dance performance involving the entire crowd who swinged to the tunes of Malayalam music. At the end of the day it was the best Onam celebration which LIBA has ever witnessed.