State award winning music director M Jayachandran recalls Onam memories

For music director M Jayachandran, his evergreen Onam memories are the days spent with his grandparents at their home at Kattakadu in Mangattukadavu in Thiruvananthapuram. The boat journey to my grandparents' home, which was two furlongs long from Mangattukadavu, is one of my favourite memories of Onam. The Onapanthu I played with my cousins and friends were really fun. My grandmother would give me some butter ( venna) and tell me to pour it on the cranes ( kokku) head in the sweltering heat so that it would be easy to catch the cranes. I remember spending the entire afternoon trying to catch the cranes to no avail, especially since the cranes would fly away on seeing me," he said.

He added that he, like the rest of the children would look forward to the Onakody. : There was always a sense that something new was going to happen. Onam ushered in some newness for all. For me, it was the only time of the year I would get to wear pants. My father would only let me wear shorts the rest of the year, so it was special," he said.

For the family at Kattakadu, the Onasadhya prepared four days in a row - Uthradam, Thiruvonam, Avittam and Chathayam- were also special. " So were the payasams,' he quipped.