It’s New Year In Kerala! ചിങ്ങമാസം വന്നു!

ചിങ്ങമാസം വന്നു ചേർന്നാൽ നിന്നെ ഞാനെൻ സ്വന്തമാക്കും!

(A Malayalam romantic dance song saying “when the month chingam comes, I will make you mine”).

Today is the first day of the new year in Malayalam calendar. Happy New Year.

Onam, the most exclusive and genuinely inclusive festival comes in the month. And it’s a month of hope for the Malayalee.

Then all hopes begins at the end of something sombre. The twelfth month Karkidakam traditionally is the month of famine (relatively as it’s now) or at least a month when people don’t celebrate, hold auspicious functions but ward against possible diseases with even a special diet.

Karkidakam is the month with heavy monsoon rains. For that matter alone I used to rejoice in that month, for I am a Water person and Kerala used to look best when it rained.

But for the last two years, the climatic change has been sadly severe with floods and damages.

Like all Malayalees, I look forward to a new beginning in the new year with hope for a smooth and pleasant return of the normal monsoon season.

Let’s join in respecting nature so that Mother Earth will be kind to us.

ചിങ്ങം വന്നു (Chingam has come), let’s romance with nature.