Showing posts with label batu caves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label batu caves. Show all posts

Monday, February 10, 2020

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The Divine Journey - Thaipusam 2020 In Batu Caves

4. My Trips , batu caves 2 Comments


"I am a very pious man. I think of God every single second in my life."

Oh, the above statement is not about me. Just a random thought since its Thaipusam week!!!

Vetrivel Muruganukku!! Aroggaraa!!

Its the time of the year where I start thinking about how the heaven am I going to carry my son to the top of Batu Caves temple this time. Almost every year we will go to Batu Caves and the same thought will appear. And every single year I successfully carry him to the top albeit having muscle cramps after that. 

Yeah back in 2011, I was in the early 30s so, boleh laa still got energy to go up and down without "side effects". Checkout my old post back in 2011 : Divine Jouney - Thaipusam 2011

Also check my 2012 post on our journey in Sungai Petani and Penang Thaipusam : 

Being 39 years old and 6 months old starting to get a toll on me this year.

Wanna know why? Read on .

This year, we reached Batu Caves around the same time like in 2011 and parked the car at the same location. The road side. Made sure I was not blocking the road or interrupt the traffic.
Not even Novel CoronaVirus could stop the Indians to fulfill the vows to Lord Muruga. It was around 5.30 am and the Batu Caves is full of people in yellow. So congested that it took us more than 4 hours to reach the top. Yup, I could have almost reached my hometown in Sungai Petani if have driven my car there.

3+ hours to reach the top.
1+ hours to reach the Lord Muruga.
10 minutes to get down.

We were standing down there for almost 2.5 hours while very slowly moving towards the stairs, I even saw a snail overtaking us and 2 hours later it was already at the top. Meanwhile, we just reached the stairs. hehehe. My son that I was carrying all this while slept well and after waking up we were still at the bottom. That's how slow the pace was. Luckily his mood was good and he was enjoying looking at the pigeons flying in the blue sky. Oh yeah, the sun was already up by this time. Moon went back to sleep already.

Before could reach the top of the caves, we had to go through a slipper mountain at the bottom. Literally it was like small hill there. Pretty sure nobody would be able to find their slippers back. Knowing well of this issue, we always keep our slipper in the car and walked barefoot. 

It took us around 40 minutes to reach the top. Thankfully, my younger son was in a mood to walk up the stairs halfway through. I had a short relief of the terrible pain on my shoulders and arms. My elder son (11 years old) and wife carried 500ml and 1.5kg paal kudam respectively while I was carrying 16kg human being.

Finally we reached the top!! (Woohoo!!) and then nobody was moving. We were just standing still and again I saw the snail moving past me with a sarcastic grin.

Weirdly, there was not a single RELA members this time to control the crowd. Not sure why? Another 1 hour plus went by and finally we are almost nearing Lord Muruga. At this point, the Golden Vel made its grand entry will all the traditional music. This one single moment felt like it was worth going through all the hassle earlier. It was a sight to behold.  Lord Muruga was so beautifully decorated and the divine aura can be felt in your heart. Even the snail agreed with me.We felt so blessed.

Rubbish management were better this time around but the problem is with the mindset of the people treating public place as rubbish bin. No discipline to clean up their own mess. Shameful behavior. #CleanThaipusam needs to be praised for the job well done.

Check out some of the pictures I took. Not many laa as tak larat already. 












Most probably next year would be in KalluMalai Temple in Ipoh! Until then keep calm and read my blog.

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Thursday, February 9, 2012

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Thaipusam 2012 - Part One (Sungai Petani)

1. Photography , 4. My Trips 0 Comments



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?


Thaipusam 2012 – Part One (Sungai Petani)
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

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the Divine Journey - Thaipusam 2011 in Batu Caves

1. Photography , 4. My Trips 0 Comments


It was 5.30am and finally we reached Batu Caves temple and managed to get a parking at the exact same location as last year, at the roadside of course. Where else can you get a parking on the most special day for Lord Murugan each year? We left from home in Kajang around 5am and reached Selayang  in 30 minutes. The decision to leave early this year was because of the massive crowd on the cave when we went there at 8.30am last year.

And first thing first, for two consecutive years we performed the "head balding" (or whatever you call it) for my son in Batu Caves.So, we decided to do the last "session" at the same place. And what an experience it was! During the first year, my son was very quiet and did not even response when the barber was shaving off the hair. Second year, he cried for a while and gave a stern look at the barber when shaving. And during the final year, he was so pissed off that he started crying from the beginning till the end. It was very hard to hold him till the end. END REsult : Shaving could not be completed successfully.. There were patches here and there. Hehehe.

Once done, moved on to the Vinayagar temple to do the prayers and then to the other deities. Luckily, there were not many crowd at that time. RM5 for each archanai. WOW!
Later, the journey up the to meet Lord Murugan begins. 272 steps...And again, since it was only around 6am, the crowd was still manageble until you reach the top. It has been years since Thaipusam is celebrated here but I wonder why there is no proper management of the crowd. Those going to do 'archanai' will clash twice with those who are bringing the paal kudam. This will cause a massive jam and worse than the one we get to see at the highways everyday.And bear in mind, this was only around 6.30am!!! Just imagine what will happen later in the day. So, The journey up began at 6am and we only managed to get down at 8.15am.
Currently I am uploading the video of the crowd so that you can see it for yourself. Should be ready in the next 30 minutes.
Video uploaded :






We didn't stay very long there as my son was getting sleepy already. While walking towards the car, we saw a few people holding a board written "Please Do Not Litter" and few of them were actually collecting the rubbish and putting it in a plastic bag. Man, we are so famous for littering during the festival that another organisation have to come and tell us to not litter! There were trash can in quite a few places but it was full. Who does the cleaning anyway? Doesn't the management have some sort of plan for this?And for the people, think before you throw..hehe
By 9am we left the temple and reached home at 10.30am. It took us 1 1/2 hours to reach back home when it took us only 30 minutes to reach the temple in the morning! Reason : Traffic jam, of course!

Checkout the photos below :

the Divine Journey – Thaipusam 2011 in Batu Caves If you visit the the temple yearly during Thaipusam, what do you think is the most important thing that must be improved by the temple management or by the public themselves? Please comment below.
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