BENGALURU : Various Malayali associations in Bengaluru have cancelled their Onam celebration plans to respect the victims of the Kerala floods. The associations are working towards providing relief funds and are planning to contribute `5 lakh to `10 lakh to the CM’s relief fund.PK Sudhish, secretary of Kairali Kala Samithi, says that the association had planned a two-day programme on September 15 and 16. On day 1, a literary function was planned, and was supposed to be attended by renowned litterateur K Sachidanandan.
“We are a socio-cultural and educational institute, and hence, every year, we plan a literary function on the first day of the Onam celebrations,” he says, adding, “Our day-two event is a day-long programme that goes on till 10.30 pm. We had approached the Melam team and they had agreed to come, but we had to cancel all the programmes. We had also planned an orchestra, sadhya for 2,000-3,000 people, and other cultural programmes,” he says. The association is now donating `5 lakh to the people of Kerala, and another `5 lakh will be sent in a month’s time.
Bangalore Kerala Samajam had also been planning their Onam programmes for the last two months. The programmes were scheduled to begin on September 9. “We had planned events for every Sunday across nine locations in the city, including RT Nagar, Malleswaram, Lingarajapuram and Peenya. We had planned sadhya for 4,000 people and cultural programmes, including gana mela, mimic show and folk songs,” says Reji Kumar, general secretary. The association had also planned a mass marriage on August 30, but are not sure if they will conduct it. “The committee has to decide if they want to hold it or not,” he says. However, charity activities and inauguration of a dialysis centre will be held as planned. “We have set up nine collection centres across nine zones, the main one being in Indiranagar, from where we are sending relief materials,” he adds.
Karnataka Nair Society has cancelled 38 events across Karnataka. There were music programmes by their own troupe scheduled for August 30, September 2, 9 and 19. Ramachandran Paleri, chairman, says, “We conduct several get-togethers in August and September. Families gather for entertainment and cultural programmes, but we have cancelled it all because we are pravasi malayalis and cannot celebrate while our families are suffering in Kerala. We haven't seen a calamity of this scale in the state in the last 80 to 90 years.”
All funds collected for Onam will now be used for Kerala's flood victims, he says. “We are planning to send the first consignment, including basic essentials, soon, and `5 lakh will be contributed to CM relief fund,” he adds.