As Kerala starts preparing for celebrating the national festival of Onam, I wanted to dedicate this blog entirely to that celebration that is so integral to the life's of the Keralate. To the uninitiated, Onam or Thiruvonnam as it is rightly phrased is the celebration to commemorate the return of Mahabali. Mahabali is an ancient mythical king who was believed to have ruled Kerala in ancient times. In his kingdom, it is said that there was no hunger, no poverty and no sadness. People lived as equals and there was prosperity all around. He was so immensely popular that Lord Indira, the king of gods got jealous of him and coerced Lord Vishnu to do some thing. Under the persistent prayers of Indira, Vishnu adorned the guise of Vamana ( one of his avatars) and reached Mahabali's castle. Mahabali at that time was conducting a yaga for world domination. At that time, he was obliged to give whatever ones asks him to give. Vamana approached Mahabali and asked him for three fee
