The second section was some photos that I took early this year during Ponggal 2012. I just realized that I have mistakenly watermarked the photos as Ponggal 2011 instead of 2012. Apologies for that.

I just took some photos of the pot and the delicious food that my wife cooked after that.

To get a full feel of the ponggal or the recipe or event  the banana leaf meal that my wife prepared for that day checkout my wife blog at ShiniesKitchenDiary        

                                                                                   

I'm Back!

After a gap of 3 years we went back to my hometown for Thaipusam. The last time we went there was a day after my wedding. :) For the next three year we went to Batu Caves to celebrate the festival of Thaipusam. At last its time to the magic of Thaipusam back in Sungai Petani, Kedah! And my son was so exited to meet his grandmother's house.

Has Sungai Petani lost its magic touch?
Well, I was bragging to my wife on how crowded it would be and there would be many kavadis in SP.After having a good rest at home, we headed to the Sithi Vinayagar temple on the eve of Thaipusam. This is the first time I'm going there after the "Kumbabishegam" and the temple looks awesome with its beige and bronze colour. Check out the photos later. We went straight inside the temple were it was almost empty since the the crowd was outside looking at the kavadis. The temple has changed a lot since the last time I came here. This is an all in one temple where you can find almost every single deities under one roof. A must visit temple if you visit Sungai Petani!

Back to Thaipusam story.After praying, we headed out and walked towards to Sri Subramaniam temple were the main event is held every single year.As we walked there, I noticed that the crowd is not as much as it used to be.Even the kavadis were so less compared to a few years back. It used to be so crowded until you have to squeeze through the all those people but we were walking freely on the road. I thought it was just the eve and the situation would change the next day. The 100 years old temple after the "kumbabishegam" looks brand new as well. There weren't many crowd inside the temple as well and managed to pray freely.After praying, went outside and since there was not many kavadis to watch, we headed back home as we have to wake up early.

 My mother is taking "paal kudam" early in the morning. Slept at midnight and woke up at 3am to bring my mom to the temple. I joined my mom in taking "paal kudam" as well for the first time in my life! We walked slowly from the Sithi Vinayagar temple together with my uncle and his family and reached the Subramaniam temple within 15 minutes as there was less people. Once we reached the temple, we took the free receipt (in conjucntion with the 100th years celebration, there is no charges for the paal kudam or kavadi) and joined the crowd waiting in line to enter the temple. It was very organised and we made 3 circles around the temple and entered inside to offer the milk to Lord Muruga. We went back home after that as there was nothing much to do. We were at home around 5.15am and I went to sleep around 6am.

The next day before heading to Penang Island, I went to the Sri Subramaniamiam temple again hoping that there would be more kavadis to watch as I didn't manage to capture enough magic moments there. And again, I was disappointed that there was only a few kavadis and hence the title of this story; Has Sungai Petani lost its magic touch?

If anyone of you readers are from Sungai Petani and happened to be there during Thaipusam, do you mind sharing your story? Perhaps, I missed the moment when the crowd and kavadis throng the temple?