India is a land of diverse religions with each and every state of the country witnessing celebration of its own set of festivals. It is no different when we talk about IFIM; but it is surprising how all the people here at IFIM, belonging from various parts of the country are so filled with enthusiasm and vigor when it comes to celebrating festivals. Onam, the harvest festival or commemoration of King Mahabali is one of the rarest of festivals which is celebrated by a complete state.
This year, Onam was celebrated in an exuberant manner. With preparations starting in the early hours of 21/09/2016 at 7 am, coordinated by Anjali I V of the PGDM 15-17 batch, assisted by students of the PGDM 16-18 batch, the event kick started with the arrival of all the students of the PGDM 15-17 and 16-18 batch, faculty members and facilitators, dressed in their exquisite traditional attire.
The festival does impel ladies to dress in Kasavu, the authentic white or off-white sarees with golden borders, and men to wear mundu with shirts- and after what we have witnessed that day, one thing is evident, we IFIMites did that in style.
As the day progressed, things got all the more interesting. They say it is during Onam, that King Mahabali comes from the netherworld to see his people living happily. Piyush, a student from the PGDM 16-18 batch took things to a notch higher, as he entered the campus dressed as Mahabali himself carrying the traditional umbrella.
Lots of fun activities also happened over there during the program. One of them was tug of war between the 15-17 and 16-18 batch.
As a part of the rituals, payasam was also distributed among all the people present in campus at the end.