Spirit of Onam binds rainbattered Kerala

STAYING AFLOAT A mosqueturnedreliefcamp hosts Onam,over 240 youths across communities join to clean up a temple

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala’s major annual festival Onam was marked on Saturday in sombre mood with nearly six lakh displaced people still in relief camps even as the toll in the murderous monsoon rose to 293 and 15 people were reported missing.

Onam is celebrated with great pomp across the state, but this time around festivities are the last thing on people’s minds as they come to grip with the devastation. The usual celebrations like “pookolam” (floral carpets) and preparing feasts were missing in many rain-affected areas while comparatively subdued elsewhere.

The nature’s fury at its worst also saw the best faces of humanity as people from different religions came together to provide shelter to their brethren, with a mosque-turned-relief-camp hosting Onam celebrations in Alappuzha district.

According to the latest figures released by the state, as many as 28 bodies were recovered Saturday, pushing the toll to 293 since August 8, when the second spell of monsoon turned disastrous for the state, triggering landslides and floods. Fifteen people are still missing, the state disaster control room sources said.

The state has cancelled official Onam celebrations in view of the monsoon fury.

Yet, 5.97 lakh men, women and children in schools, colleges, convention halls, mosques and churches, which are doubling up as relief camps, got together to celebrate the festival in whichever manner they could.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed hope that the festival will give new strength to the people to overcome the adversities.

“May this Onam give further strength to the people of Kerala to