Kerala’s biggest cultural festival, Onam is here! The harvest festival celebrated from September 6 to 15, this year, marks the homecoming of the mythical king Mahabali to the soil of Kerala. As part of the celebrations, Onam Sadhya, a feast of 24 to 28 dishes, fit for royalty, is served on banana leaves. Like many companies, Ather Energy, the two-wheeler manufacturer organised an Onam Sadhya for its employees. However, this festive meal gained a lot of backlash on social media.
Ather Energy’s Onam Sadhya Meal Faces Backlash On X
Ather Energy’s co-founder Tarun Mehta shared a glimpse of the Onam celebrations at the company on X. The post was supplemented with pictures of the meal, Sadhya and employees dressed in traditional Kerala attire. Mehta himself and his co-founder Swapnil Jain flaunted their mundu in a picture.
The Sadhya at the company included a mandatory vegetarian meal from Kerala served on banana leaves. A picture showed a few gravies, pickles banana chips, a banana, and the most glaring, a chapati as part of the meal. Comments on X immediately identified the misfit of the meal and raised questions about the uninvited guest (chapati in this case). Some Netizens called it ‘North Indian Onam’.
Also Read: Onam 2024: Why Is Beetroot Pachadi A Classic In Our Onam Sadya Feast?
Lack Of Dishes & Chapati In The Meal Irk Netizens
Matta rice or Kerala brown rice is a carb that is a staple and crucial part of the meal. Chapatis are neither served nor have any relevance to the festivities. “There is a limit and you have crossed it,” chided another X user. Another pleaded to stop the madness and draw the line at rotis. Commenters joked about employees getting scammed due to a paltry meal of an excuse. Some termed it “Onam on a shoestring budget.”
Apart from the inaccuracies in the meal, the traditional attire mundus worn by the co-founders also caught the eye of Netizens. A person pointed out that the mundu needed to be tied to the right side instead of the left.
Also Read: Onam 2024: 25 Best Menus Across India Featuring Hearty Feasts, Spicy Curries, And Sweet Delicacies
Even if it didn’t make it to the pictures, let’s hope the employees were served rice to mop up the sambar. Also, delving into a culture and celebrating a festival that’s not part of one’s native, can still be an effort worth crediting, right? Or do you feel otherwise?
Cover Image Courtesy: @tarunsmehta/ X
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