Onam is considered to be one of the most important festivals in Kerala and Malayalis. An annual harvest and cultural festival, it is also said to honour the story of Vamana (the fifth avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu) and the generous daitya king Mahabali. The festival spread over ten days or so also marks the Malayalam New Year.
Considering how major of a festival Onam is, it is to be expected that even Malayalis who don’t live in Kerala itself would be celebrating it which is what was happening in Toronto, the capital of Ontario, Canada.
However, some people have very mixed or even downright negative reactions to such festivities taking place.
What Happened?
It all started from an Instagram post made two days ago about Onam celebrations that will be occurring from the 7th to the 11th of September in downtown Toronto.
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The video featured Toronto’s Dundas Square and showed what was happening for the Onam festivities including photobooths, stalls, competitions, and even a mini-concert. This might be nothing special as this is standard for almost any festival or event these days.
However, the comments were engaged in a heated debate with mixed reactions being seen from many. What was surprising though was that it wasn’t just Canadians who were complaining, but Indians who settled there too were complaining about such celebrations.
One user wrote, “I am an Indian from Kerala living in Canada, and I didn’t come all this way to see such events here.”
There were also various comments about how “Our Canada is ruined,” stating that there was “zero civic sense” among these people and that this was a “fake cultural show-up”.
One user even commented “Why should we bring our culture into foreign countries? All cultural activities from Punjab, Kerala, Gujrat, Tamil Nadu etc should be banned from Canada..I am from Kerala, India and really ashamed of the amount of racist comments.”
Some people did defend the celebration writing “This is not like other people taking speakers and dancing in the middle of the sidewalk.”
In another Reddit post, one wrote “Celebrating the culture of the country where you are from doesn’t mean you are not loyal to the one you are living in. On the argument of hate to the Indian community due to not integrating, a lot of the hate is due to the rising xenophobia in Canada.”
Read More: “Hate The Indian Migrants,” Indian Woman’s Controversial Post On Migrants In Canada Goes Viral
Another commented “I do not actually blame the Indians themselves because the Trudeau government has made our immigration system a pathetic joke.”
Under a Reddit post, many defended this with one user writing “We have the Chinese New Year Parade, Punjabi festivals, Jamaican celebrations etc. It’s a free country and everyone is welcome to celebrate as long it doesn’t harm anyone.”
Another wrote “As long as this was done with permissions, did not violate any thing , this is good. Why this inferiority complex. Here people with Irish heritage celebrate St Patrick’s day, they freaking turn the Chicago river green for it . Don’t be judgemental Malayalees . If it’s random dancing in the middle of the street or done without license, yes that should be condemned.”
A clip of the celebrations taking a more drastic turn was also shared on the r/Kerala subreddit page with the caption “Why do this sort of nuisance and ruin the reputation for everyone? Especially when public sentiments towards immigration is at an all time low?”
One user responding to this wrote “I don’t think they have the forethought or awareness about how these actions would be perceived by native Canadians.
Maybe they just don’t care. Immigrating to a first-world country is a privilege. Unfortunately, it seems more and more of the recent Indian immigrants are importing all the cultural toxicity, proclivity for scamming and cheating, etc. It seems more and more of them just want to turn the country into mini-India.”
Another explained a story and in conclusion wrote “I don’t think people realise that once they leave India, regardless of which part of India they’re from, they represent the country. Hate towards India and Indians is rampant on social media these days and even though most of them are rooted on baseless things and pure hatred, incidents like these doesn’t help at all. And some point, it’s all going to catch up.”
One user talked about the situation in UK writing “It’s worst in UK, especially new arrivals, today saw few Mallu gang commenting on a young lady in Gym. they keep waiting for her to do squarts and comment and laugh, such a low life!!”
Another wrote “I am an malayali living in Toronto for last 8 years. These are the low standard clowns we got after covid. Most of them make daily wage and work in restaurants. Hopefully government deport them.”
One more user wrote “This is what happens when u immigration it’s handed out to everyone with no need for effort. Every Tom, Dick and Harry can immigrate without putting in any effort. Just apply for some random pg course and be on their way.
As such, these people do not respect or value the opportunity they are presented with. There I used to be a time when you had to earn your visa, admissions and so on. Back then we had a good reputation.
And believe it or not there was a time when Brit’s and Canadians and Australians and all welcomed Indians, especially mallus, with open arms as classmates and colleagues. Sadly that ain’t the case anymore.”
This also comes against the ongoing tension between Canada and India and how it is impacting the immigrant people. In a recent report, it was also revealed that the approval of Indian students for Canada’s study visas has dropped by 50% in 2024.
The data comes from an ApplyBoard report according to The Globe and Mail which said “In the first half of this year, approvals of study permits from India halved”.
The reason for this is given as being an increase in financial requirements for international students and possibly strict immigration policies that are deterring students.
Meti Basiri, CEO and co-founder of ApplyBoard said, “Canada in recent months has not been seen as being as welcoming as it once was to international students.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Hindustan Times, India Times, India Today
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Onam, Onam celebrations, Onam festival, Onam toronto, Onam canada, Canada, Canada immigrants, Canada indian immigrants, indian immigrants, viral, Toronto, Canada India, Canada India relations
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