RIFLE RANGE BOY

One thing about Indians in Penang, mainly of Tamil stock, is that they have a solid attachment to Thaipusam celebrations. I remember growing up in Penang around low, middle-class Tamil families; Thaipusam was an important event. For Penangites, Thaipusam meant three trips of prayers. Anything else would mean incomplete worship of Lord Thendayathapani. On the eve of Thaipusam, it was customary to follow the day-long chariot procession that traversed almost the whole town. The main event on Thaipusam was a giant fiesta. It was the go-to place to meet up with old friends and long-lost relatives who refused to keep in touch. Climbing the Waterfall hill to pray at the small temple atop is necessary. Watching wave after wave of colourful kavadis . Kavadis came in various sizes with degrees of intricacies, architectures and varying displays of theatrics by the kavadi bearers and their entourage. Music was compulsory. Those days, there was not so much restriction to the songs played over the...

Slava Kavadi @ Penang Thaipusam The actor-director who made the much-talked-about Kannada film 'Kantara', is said to have performed some of the stunts himself. One of the scenes that he had to carry out was a particular dance for a diety. In an interview, he admitted that he followed the prerequisites before delving into that pious act. The rest, as we know it, is history. These types of dos and don'ts are rife in many Indic practices. All have them have a said ancient scientific to them. Growing up, I had seen many who religiously performed annual penance for Lord Muruga on Thaipusam. I heard they had to undergo a gruelling 30-day or 14-day regime before going anywhere near the tent to initiate the ritual involving body piercings and feats that would befuddle them later.  It involved consuming two simple vegetarian meals a day. Abstinence from the luxuries of life is a must. That would mean no personal grooming, no manicure and pedicure, no footwear, no hot showers, avoida...

It had a fiesta mood, jovial demeanour, smiling faces, honking road users, the same colour motif and the chant. The roads were their path to reach the point of salvation. Interlaced amongst the crowd were banners, placards and cheeky messages. Everybody was courteous and everybody wanted their voices to be heard. Orang asal with years of neglect were down with their banner. So were the workers with minimum wage on their mind. The LGBT representative was there with his rainbow hued flag to be counted. The only time I last saw so many people don yellow was during Thaipusam celebration during my childhood back in Penang! Come to think of it, there were so many similarities between this peaceful march and Thaipusam celebrations in Penang. People would come from near and far to witness the procession. The joy was in the walk as there was where old friends of yesteryears would be met. The march would be interrupted by occasional kavadis that would tickle our interest- in Bersih 4.0...

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2014/01/16/did-god-ask-for-this/ Did God ask for this? Narinder Singh  | January 16, 2014 With prices of goods skyrocketing, will the Indians still indulge in spending lavishly to appease Lord Murugan during Thaipusam? Thaipusam is here and preparations are at full swing at almost all temples in the nation. The Batu Caves Temple being the lead runner and a tourist attraction will once again be thronged by devotees asking for their annual forgiveness from Lord Murugan. From Perlis to Sabah and Sarawak, Thaipusam will be celebrated, no doubt. The only difference will be the intensity and magnitude as the population of Hindus in some states are insignificant. Nevertheless the spirit and ambiance will surely mesmerise all in terms of culture, religion and peripheral entertainment. The limelight of Thaipusam is anchored around the kavadis. Devotees who make various vows fulfill them during this time and carrying kavadi...

In this time and age, where everyone lives in the fast lane where speed dial rules - nobody remembers numbers any more;  immigration is through the green lane; express lane to squeeze toll in a wink; dressed down to work and so forth, everything can be arranged for your convenience. And I thought it is only applies to our daily living! Even preparations for penance can fast trekked. Just the other day, my son who is generally cynically and sarcastic about age old traditional rituals and ethno-religious practices, blurted out that he was taking a 'paal kodam' (milk containers) on our Thaipusam outing. I guess the stress of wanting to excel in his recently concluded public examinations lured him to display publicly his private cajoling of divine interventions. From my understanding of carrying out penance, one has to purify the body and soul by sacrificing simple pleasures of life over a protracted period of time to focus the mind with their ultimate task of surrendering th...

Datuk Zainal Alam, senior RTM broadcaster, entertainer, singer, and stand-up comedian. © Star Of late, they have been talks of unspeakable wastage of stream of milk filling the drains of Batu Caves all along the days surrounding Thaipusam. Money that otherwise can be used for the upliftment of the Indian Malaysian community is said to be literally down the drain. Milk, as described by Datuk Zainal Alam, a fellow Penangite, comedian, entertainer extraordinaire, is the first and last thing consumed by humans and would not have been so much stature and reverence in life is not for its pristine white hue. Imagine a purple liquid called 'milk'! I digress... Much has also griped about the humongous garland donned upon 'The First Lady' and her consort, which would have taken half an acre's yield, going to waste. Ever since my language teacher in Form 1 (AA), told the class that we could not say the space expedition is a waste of money in our essay as money just...

Shiv family (North) Siva family (South) Coin, 200BCE, Indus Valley Somebody said that Hinduism is amalgamation of believes of many in the one God with various manifestations and names. The earlier settlers who jump started the civilization in the Indus Valley had their own Gods of worship. Along came the culture from the North, either by cultural or physical invasion. Their mode of worship was forcibly or by diffusion infused into the society. Some society members never forgot their predecessor icons and continued worshipping them in their own way and stories were created to substantiate their practice. With that background in my mind, I was not at all surprised when the secretary of the temple, on his routine weekly announcement of events of the following week, totally omitted Thaipusam in his list. He was faithfully reading out on this prayer and that prayer and Shivrathri. That's it! Actually, Murugan (Kaarthikeyan) has been hanging around the scriptures since the f...