Meeting my country
Thursday, January 20th, 2011“Hey JC, someone I know is carrying a kavadi this year. Would you like to witness the process?”
“Now, why would I want to miss a thing like that. Count me in.”
My partner in crime
Some people enter your life, and immediately enrich it. Sheau Ching, whom I’ve known for less than a month, has been such a person. Every week or so, I get an email from her, taunting me to attend the most bizarre events.
“Hang with me and I’ll open your eyes,” she once said to me. Back then, I thought she was merely trying to correct my “mata sepetness”.
Thaipusam 2011
It is past midnight as I’m writing this, and my mind is tired. So I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking.
Your coach taking you places
I always believed that life’s greatest lessons live outside the four walls of the classroom. So I took my Wednesday student, Teeba, with me. We boarded the KTM train at the Petaling station, which conveniently, is located behind the slum dwellings across the street from where I live.
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Cheap thrill
Each year, close to a million people visit Batu Caves for Thaipusam. This was only the eve of the celebration, but still, many people were already making their way there, some of them with plans to stay the night. Our train ticket only costs us RM2.40.
For me, it was a big thrill taking the KTM train. The last time I got on one was over 20 years ago, when my mom thought it’d be a good learning experience to take the train to Singapore.
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Cleansing
We crossed some train tracks, and made our way to the cleansing stream at the foothills. This I felt, was where the most interesting rituals took place, but not many people gathered here. The main crowd seem to pool at the bottom of the cave steps, where all kinds of stalls were set up. Each tent offered something different. Many were food stalls, and others—paraphernalia counters, fortune telling booths, balloon kiosks and shaving stations.
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How Thaipusam got its name
Apparently, there is a month in the Hindu calendar called Thai, and Pusam is the name of a star. So on the tenth day of the month of Thai, during the full moon, this celebration takes place.
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What is the celebration about?
Hindus gather at Batu Caves to pay homage to the highly revered deity, Lord Murugan a.k.a. Lord Subramaniam. There is a very interesting story behind how Thaipusam came about. I don’t know it.
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The Village People
On this day, Batu Caves becomes the centre of a great religious procession as millions converge on this shrine from all over. They would pour in like water into a boat that had sprung several leaks, streaming in from parking lots, pregnant buses, packed trains and nearby villages.
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The Colour Yellow
Before I left the house, I pondered on this quite a bit: if I was dressed appropriately. At the time, I wasn’t sure if there were certain colours I should stay away from, something that would maybe anger the gods. To be safe, I picked a cream coloured shirt. When I arrived, I discovered that most devotees of Lord Murugan wore yellow or orange color, which apparently is his favourite colour. I’ll make the adjustment next year.
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Participants
Hindus generally participate in Thaipusam to ask for a favor, fulfill a vow in return for a granted favor, or to repent for past sins.
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New meaning to the term, slow poke
One of the common things that happens during Thaipusam is the spearing of the cheeks or tongue with shiny steel rods. These skewers protrude out of their flesh on both ends. The spear pierced through the tongue or cheek reminds them of the Lord constantly. It also prevents them from speaking.
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Blood curdling, but without the blood
With all the piercing, and prodding and hooking that was taking place, what was amazing was that no blood was let. Sheau Ching explained to me that through meditation and by getting into a trance, the devotees are able to slow their heart rate way down, and perhaps, their blood pressure drops too. Me? I’d pop like a balloon.
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Mortification of the flesh
There were many men who had things hooked onto their backs: brass bells, whole lime fruits, and other miscellaneous objects. What made me most nervous was not in watching them get the items attached. What I was most nervous about was if I were to accidently bump into one of these guys while negotiating the jostling crowd. I mean, could you imagine accidently elbowing one of these guys in the back, and he lets out a blood curdling scream. Ya, some scene that would be.
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Milk
Not all acts of devotion during Thaipusam involves extreme acts that involves being poked by sharp metal objects. At its simplest, some merely carry silver urns full of milk on their heads up the 272 steps to the cave.
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Shaved heads
Many shave their heads bald as a symbol of humility and atonement. Having been bald for 8 years, I guess I had a lot from my past life that I had to atone for.
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Kavadi: What it looks like
One of the most notable things when one conjures an image of Thaipusam is the carrying of the kavadi. Kavadis, from what I draw from its appearance, are miniature shrines. They are adorned with pictures or statues of Hindu deities, bedecked with flowers and dressed within a semi-circle peacock plumes. There is some significance as to why peacock feathers are used. Apparently, way back in the day, someone defeated someone, and turned him into a peacock, to be used as a form of transport.
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The reason to carry a kavadi
Hindus assume the kavadi to ask for a future favor, fulfill a vow after being granted a favour, to repent for past sins or to avert a great calamity. Those fulfilling a vow have, in the past, asked for help such as a cure for a loved one, the birth of a baby, or help to pull through hard times. Some merely participate to reaffirm their faith.
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Attaching the Kavadi
I did not get to witness the actual attaching of the kavadi to a person, but from what I’d seen in pictures, it consists of chains, ropes and spears anchored in the skin of their backs or chests.
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Kavadi Preparation
Before bearing the kavadi, devotees prepare physically, mentally and spiritually through a 48-day fast – eating only one vegetarian meal a day. They also abstain from carnal pleasures, engage in deep prayer both at home and at the temple, sleep on the hard floor and observe silence where possible. I’d fail miserably at the silence part.
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Procession
One of the reasons why I followed Sheau Ching today was because someone she knew was going to be carrying the kavadi. And to be able to follow one group from beginning to end would have allowed us a deep understanding of the whole process. We also would have been able to see the procession through their eyes. Unfortunately, amidst the mayhem, we were unable to connect with her friend.
But this is what generally happens. After the kavadi is attached, the bearer, accompanied by an entourage of family, friends and musicians, will carry the kavadi along a pre-determined route up to the cave. Thousands of coconuts are smashed along the route as the parade passes, and fruits and floral tributes are laid along the path. My feet kept kicking into things on the path. Hope that didn’t completely cancel out the poor fella’s kavadi offering.
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Music
One of the things I found most enlivening about the celebration were the many circles of drummers throughout the grounds, each churning out trance-inducing rhythms with straw-like drumsticks. If I were a better dancer, I would have put on a show.
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Night Atmosphere
I was reminded of some past events in my life as night fell; partying and sleeping out in the streets the night before the Running of the Bulls, and the Jemma al Fina in Marakesh. Their similarity? The pulse.
The cool night air felt invigorating against my face. The knowledge that everyone present was going to be there till the morrow, made me want so much to be a part of the night. But it was my duty to see my student home at an acceptable hour.
Interspersed with the lively tangle of drumbeats rising into the sky, and backdropped by the steep, jagged face of the limestone outcrop, I was certain of one thing. That this was an image that was going to stay with me for a long time.
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Calling it a night
The train was very empty on the train ride back. Teeba and I fell deep into conversation about the events we had just witnessed, to the point we overshot our stop. We ended up in Kampung Dato Harun and had to catch the train in the opposite direction. When it arrived, our jaws fell. The train was jam packed with Hindu devotees with no standing room left. Still, we managed to squeeze on, but only after everyone sucked in their stomachs. We discovered what it feel like to be wrapped in a ketupat.
When I dropped her home at 10:30, Teeba made me promise to take her again the following year. Some people make promises and then break them. I make mine to force myself to fulfil them.
Some closing words
I took a moment to reflect on the night, and found in it elements that in the past I had failed to understand. No longer is it my view that Thaipusam is merely about people penetrating their bodies with sharp objects. Thaipusam is about the awakening of one’s spirituality, and a supreme act of devotion which allows them to do what they do on this day. My eyes have been opened that much wider tonight, thanks wholly to this great friend of mine, who until a month back, was a complete stranger to me.
