"Thaipusam@Batu Caves - To Be Held on 11 Feb. 2006" YuenK's Profile

Thaipusam is the most important religious festival celebrated by Hindus. It is observed in the month of Thai, the tenth month which is a very important month in the Tamil calendar. On Thaipusam, the full moon is in transit through the brightest star, Pusam in the zodiacal sign of Cancer.

For Hindus, Thaipusam is a day of atonement for sins. On this auspicious day, the image of Lord Subramaniam, youngest son of the mighty Shiva - the most awesome God of the Hindu pantheon, is placed on a silver chariot and taken around in a grand procession to the accompaniment of instrumental music.

Devotees who observe this great day of penance, spiritually cleanse themselves by undergoing a month long fast. They observe frequent prayers, consume a single vegetarian meal daily and abstain from sex. Twenty-four hours before the carrying of kavadis, a complete fast is observed by devotees.

Kavadis are carried in fulfilment of vows and pledges taken in devotion to Lord Subramaniam. Kavadis are semicircular steel frames with bars for support on the shoulders, decorated with flowers and peacock feathers. Other devotees walk in sandals embedded with iron nails or stick small spears made of silver through their cheeks, tongues and bodies. However, there appears to be no physical pain encountered through these processes! www.geographia.com/malaysia/holthaipusam.html

In Kuala Lumpur, the festival is celebrated on a mammoth scale at the Batu Caves temple on the outskirts of the city. It began in 1892, started by early Tamils who migrated to colonial Malaya.

Reportedly, two of them made the difficult trek up the ancient limestone hill and planted the `vel' in the cave. The cave, the size of a soccer field, houses a temple dedicated to Lord Murugan.

The vel, made of metal and shaped like a lance, symbolises Murugan who is also known as Velan.

On the eve of Thaipusam, a five-ton silver-chariot bearing Lord Murugan's image and followed by a procession of several thousand people leaves the Sri Mahamariaman temple in downtown Kuala Lumpur, on a 15-kilometre trek to Batu Caves.

Mahamariamman is also another name for Parvathi, Murugan's mother.

Drums beat out trance-inducing rhythms and long wooden pipes, known as nathaswaram, croon devotional tunes in a loud carnival atmosphere.

Hundreds break coconuts and offer fruits to the God all along the chariot's meandering route. www.allmalaysia.info/msiaknow/festivals/thaipusam/

Thaipusam is usually falls between middle and end of January. As it follows the Hindu calender the date is uncertain.

The procession of the deity Muruga to Batu Caves is held the day before Thaipusam. Then the festivities will continue through the night till the following night. It is at its peak between 1 am and 4 am.

The best time to catch the kavadi procession is in the early morning of Thaipusam when it is cooler. The procession will start from the right of the Batu Caves entrance. The preparation area is about a kilometer away. Here you can observe the devotees prepare themselves with prayers etc to carry the kavadis.

To get there, there will be special bus services at Jalan Silang. This year's fare is RM2 one way. The KTM provide train service as well.

Karluv Most, Prague

Eatalogue:

New Zealand - mutton pie (cheapest) and mussels (more than a dozen for less than NZD2)

Australia - fresh oyster (slurrrrp), barramundi fish and chip with peach sauce and kangaroo steak.

Hong Kong - roasted duck and pigeon (yummmm), dim sum and tea.

China - dropped into my ancestral home in Mei Xian. Man! We had twelve course dinner everyday and different menu all the time. The food? Exceptionally good and nothing I can find in Malaysia (Buuurrrp).

Thailand - maybe I do not know where I can find good food, I did not have anything interesting. I hope Thai VTers will give me some pointers.

Nepal - I found out that eating plain popcorn with soup is very tasty. Tibetan food is almost similar to Chinese. Nepali tea is delicious and butter tea is just so-so. In Pokhara, we had a nice Nepali dinner with cultural show and cost USD10 for three persons.

Jordan - sweets made of pistachio nut are marvelous. I tried cheese and meat soup which what can I say... interesting.

Egypt - Stuffed pigeon is delicious. I sampled quite a few Mid-Eastern cooking in the Nile cruise and they were good. I tried kushari which cost me EGP1 and it gave me stomachache. Shawarma is delicious and cheap. Any hot drink on top of Mt Sinai in the middle of night is extremely delicious (I was there end of February).

Greece - Greek salad, eggplant salad with bread, keftedhes, loukanika, souvlaki and some interesting food during the Greek Easter. Ouzo, mmmm, interesting.

Italy - pizza which is not the same as those we get from the fastfood chain. It has subtle taste which is unique and tasty. Gelata which I did not miss and stop by almost every gelata shop.

Germany - Sausages galore. I had them for lunch and dinner and snack. Just delicious.

Holland - pickled fish sandwich has the zest.

Canada - fresh salmon (MmmMmmmm).

Czech - mmmmMMMM affordable restaurants and beer cheaper than Coke. Delicious food and beer. Bear in mind that Czech Special in U Sadlu is fit for eight persons. Four of us managed to finish half only.

Poland - Pork dishes are delicious. If more pepper corns are added into the flaki, then it taste similiar to the Chinese's black pepper tripe soup. Chlopskie serves delicious food. Now I know that lard on bread taste delicious. The Chinese in Malaysia uses lard to fried noodles ie Hokkien Noddle, Chow Kuey Teow etc.

Hungary - another place for great food except a little more expensive than Czech. Must taste the Hungarian wines and they are affordable. Unicum is beyond my taste bud. It tasted like Chinese medicine mixed with alcohol. However, the fishes served in Tiszafured have muddy taste. In Malaysia, we will let the fresh-water fishes swim in clear water tank for a few days so that the muddy taste will be flushed out before cooking the fishes.

Romania - food and wine are delicious and affordable.

Other European countries - I was on budget at the time and did not eat anything interesting except sandwiches and blue cheese (whoa, taste and smell good, real good).

Bon apetit!

Malaysia

I hope you have enjoyed my page.

Jumpa lagi.

Yuen Kong