Thaipusam

Every year, more than a million devotees gather at the Batu Caves - a spectacular site outside Kuala Lumpur - to celebrate the Hindu festival of Thaipusam. As well as taking part in a parade, many of the penitents express their devotion in ways which may well seem strange to outsiders. (The KTM trains and LRT schedules have been extended to shuttle devotees to Batu Caves to prepare for the day).Yahooooo

Thaipusam commemorates the day when the Goddess Parvathi gave her son Murugan an invincible vel (lance), with which he vanquished the evil asura (demons). The festival starts with a procession through the town. A silver chariot carries the image of Lord Subramaniam, Shiva's youngest son, and people throw coconuts on the ground beside it

It's atrocious - that's what I'll say about my recent visit to Batu Caves. I wonder how come nothing is being done about the awful smell from poor waste disposal. Year after year same old thingy. Some of the money spent on beautifying and building more temples & sculptures could have been used to improve the sewage and waste disposal.

The RM10 charge for devotees to pour milk onto the deity is unreasonable. Devotees buy milk at their own cost, carry it up 272 steps, line up in the unmanaged crowd (45 mins or more) and on top of it are charged RM10 (at times, no receipt is given) All out to make a quick buck. But nothing can take away the beauty ofr a kavadi and the rhythmic dances that come out of that.

Till the next one