Vishu in Exile

Vishu [the Malayalam New Year] is almost here, and I just got an email from the Nair group on Yahoo telling me that the konna trees in Kerala are in full bloom. One group member mentioned that the golden yellow flowers are in bloom in Singapore also [where he lives]. I remember when I was growing up in Mumbai how amma and other Malayali aunties would run around helter skelter the day before Vishu trying to find some sprigs of kani konna for their vishu kani. The konna trees are hard to come by in Mumbai and Malayalis beg, borrow and steal in order to put up a good kani for their families.

For the longest time we used to get our stash of konna poo from my best friend, Sumi’s, father. He used to work for Telco and his office was located in the outskirts of Mumbai, where, I believe, some konna trees did grow. Every year, he used to manage to bring back some blossom laden branches of the all too important flower, and Sumi’s mom would pass on a portion to us. Then, after his retirement from Telco, we began buying the flowers in tiny little plastic pouches – approximately one sprig per packet from the local Malayali store. These sprigs were often days old, and the owners of the stores would keep them refrigerated lest they wilt before D-day. The fact that they were semi wilted when placed on the kani trays didn’t really seem to matter to us. After all, beggars can’t really be choosers.

This will be my ninth Vishu away from home. I don’t know if things have changed in Mumbai. I don’t think amma keeps a Vishu kani anymore. I do, however, do what I can to keep some of the Vishu traditions alive. My answer to the lack of kanni konna? Some sprigs of glorious yellow palo verde!