Summer is in full swing, and there is so much excitement for the 2024 Paris Olympics! All eyes are on Team USA as they prepare for an unforgettable performance, and we are equally thrilled about Team India already securing two medals and aiming for even more.
Meanwhile, the COMA Executive Committee is diligently preparing for one of our biggest events of the year – our Onam celebrations. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your cultural talents and entertain fellow Malayalees. We encourage you to sign up for performances and reach out to the Executive Committee if you’re interested in volunteering for the Onam event. Your support will be vital in making this event a resounding success. This year’s COMA Onam will be on September 7th Saturday. Onam tickets will open up shortly, keep an eye out for that and more details about the event.
Here’s another reminder to renew your COMA annual memberships. Please note that memberships run from July 1st of the current year to June 30th of the following year. COMA Membership for 2024-2025 is now available for purchase on the COMA website!
— Smitha Nishant
Red tailed hawk – A poem by Aadhya Pradeesh
(Aadhya Pradeesh is a rising 4th grader at Shale Meadows Elementary. She’s the daughter of former EC member Pradeesh Puthiyattil and Aswathi Pradeesh.)
A firey red
On their tail
The great precise birds
Just so proud
Squawking
Very loud
Fenix and Torch
Their eyes badly hurt
People take care of them
Flying so high
Are those kings
Of our skies
Why teens should do CPR, first aid, and babysitting training – by Lipikha Sreejith
(Lipikha is an avid dreamer, and she enjoys swimming and singing . A foodie at times, she loves to travel. She goes to Hyatts Middle School and is a Red Cross certified baby-sitter. Liphika is the daughter of regular COMA patrons Deepika and Sreejith Chandran.)
Image: Poster created by Liphika using Adobe Express.
The life of a Malayalee American – by Nish Nishant
(Nish is a wannabe writer who has unsuccessfully attempted to make a living as a published author. He lives with his wife Smitha and son Rohan in Worthington, Ohio.)
There is an anecdotal opinion among non-Malayalee Indians that there is no spot on this planet where you would be hard-pressed to find a Malayalee. While I am unsure of the veracity of that theory, Malayalees have certainly flourished in the United States of America. The dichotomy of being both Malayalee and American can often be an interesting experience, and most Malayalees embrace this clash of cultures with a belligerent and yet cheerful approach. I often find myself telling people that I am not just an Indian American but that I am particularly a Malayalee American. Now that may be awfully specific, but my Malayalee identity forms the core of my persona and it’s fairly impossible to look around that.
One of my pet theories as to why Malayalees effortlessly assimilate into American sub-culture is that we don’t have a dietary block when it comes to American food. Kerala is one of the few states in India where any four-legged bovine animal is at any arbitrary point in time at certain risk of being slaughtered and consumed for food. I never get tired of reminding my American friends that unlike their other Indian acquaintances, I have no issues in consuming substantial quantities of filet mignon, pork chops, and bacon. And boy, do we love our liquor or what? I am yet to meet a Malayalee American who wasn’t scholarly about various kinds of wines, scotch whiskies, and beers. We may have travelled half way across the globe to lead new lives, but we’ve taken our fondness and tolerance for booze with us.
Malayalee Americans may listen to Katy Perry and The Black Eyed Peas, but at the faintest hint of a tune by K J Yesudas or K S Chithra, we go back to being Malayalee music enthusiasts. Mohanlal, Mammooty, Suresh Gopi, and Prithviraj continue to occupy the same ranks in our hearts as Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, and Bruce Willis. The cliché that you can take a Malayalee out of Kerala, but that you can never entirely take Kerala out of a Malayalee holds surprisingly true. This detail can be quite simply observed at any Malayalee cultural event across America, including events organized by our very own COMA. Kids who were born here and some of who have never set foot in Kerala sing and dance to the beats of popular Malayalam songs. Many of them watch Asianet and Surya TV when they come home from school, although it’s questionable as to whether that’s a great idea these days!
That said, at the end of the day, the one absolute certainty is that we Malayalee Americans are all the same, more or less speaking. Husband and wife looking to grow their careers, hoping to send their children to top colleges, saving up to buy a comfortable home in a nice neighborhood, keeping our weekends free to socialize and have fun with friends and family – yeah, we really are all the same. We are Americans and we are Malayalees, and we are proud of those independent identities. Cheers to all my fellow Malayalee Americans!
[This article was originally published in the COMA souvenir for the 2013 Suresh Gopi show.]
Awesome content.
Nice article Nish. Well written. Enjoyed reading it.