Malayalee beauties Adah Sharma and Malavika Mohanan shared their Vishu memories. Vishu will be celebrated tomorrow on 15 April with much fanfare in Kerala. Malavika Mohanan speaking to scribes shared her memories. She said “Amma would always tell us how grandly they would celebrate Vishu in Kerala. I grew up in Mumbai, and not even in a Malayali locality. So, I used to think there was never a sense of community,” she tells us, adding, “But amma always tried to make it as festive as possible for us.”
She added “More than shopping for clothes, buying the fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other paraphernalia for the Krishna idol we would put up at home gave me such joy growing up. It always felt like a treasure hunt when we would go around the city looking for the specific yellow flowers we would use,” she reminisces, adding, “And on the festival day itself, we’d have friends over for a delicious sadhya, dress up in traditional clothes and go to the temple come evening.”
She continued “She wanted us to feel the same thing she did – a sense of belonging with loved ones because what else does a festival need?” and shared . “I love raiding my mom’s jewellery closet and wear her jhumkis. Be it the pawda and top when I wore as a child, the half saree I was excited to wear as a teen or the kasava saree I wear now, it all makes me feel like I’ve stayed in touch with my roots,”
Adah Sharma shared “It brings to mind such beautiful memories of celebrating the day with my loved ones in Kerala,” and added , “I could go on and on about it because they still bring a smile to my face.” Remembering her grandmother's memories, she shared “They would cover my eyes ever so gently and take me to the temple we set up at home every year. The first thing I would see when I opened my eyes was a moorti of Krishna. He would be decorated with yellow flowers, with rice, fruits and vegetables placed to him as offerings. It’s believed this would bring me good luck and prosperity for the year,”
On special festive dresses, Adah shared “I have a quirky sense of style and while I spend most of the year in colorful, wacky outfits, this is the day I like to go completely traditional and tone it down,” and continued “It was such a special moment for me. With malli poo in hair so long that I could sit on it, I remember feeling so beautiful,”
She shared “There’s something comforting in the simplicity of wearing the kasavu saree, putting flowers in my hair, wearing a bottu. It takes me back to my childhood in Kerala no matter which part of the world I am in on this day. If I’m in the mood to jazz it up a little, I add sneakers to the look if I’m heading out. But the best part has to be when my mom finishes the look with a loving touch of chandanam on my forehead,”