A six-day prayer event called Ati Rudra Maha Yagna that originated from India will be held for the first time in Kuala Lumpur next month.
The world’s third Ati Rudra Maha Yagna, considered by followers of religious guru Sathya Sai Baba as the highest form of worship to Lord Shiva, will be held in Batu Caves from Aug 7 to Aug 12.
Sri Subramaniam Swamy temple chairman Datuk R. Nadarajah said this would be the first time that the event had been held outside India.
“We are expecting about 5,000 participants in the six days,” he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur recently.
Organising chairman Jullius Tan, who is also Persatuan Sathya Sai Nivas chairman, added the ceremony was to promote universal peace through the finding of oneself in meditation, mantras and prayers.
Also present at the press conference was former Malaysia Hindu Sangam president Datuk A. Vaithilingam.
The occasion will see 140 priests conducting the chants. There will also be cultural songs and other performances in the evening.
I guess the whole world now knows about this mega event. Rajinikanth, AR Rahman, and Shankar are expected to attend while Aiswarya may not due to pregnancy. Sify says Amitabh Bachan may also make an appearance.
The audio launch for Enthiran is scheduled on 31st July 2010 (Saturday), 7.31pm at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC). You can try your luck to get the invitation tickets. If you are a Digi subscriber, you can take part in their contest (click here). If you are not into Digi, then you can tune in to THR Raaga. They seem to be having a contest going on, but I couldn’t really understand how to take part. Visit their website for more details (click here).
And, if you think its not worth the hassle to meet some actors, music directors and movie directors, you can, like me, plan to watch the event in the comfort of your homes! Yup that’s right. Astro Vanavil (Channel 201) will air the audio launch LIVE, and for the first time you can catch it in HD too, on channel 222 (its not activated yet la!). MyTamilChannel says the HD channel will be active from 31st July at 6am until 8th August midnight 12am.
In case you are lost, read about Endhiran in Wikipedia (click here). Its the most anticipated movie for this year in Tamildom. Endhiran’s website is at http://www.endhiranthemovie.in/
I’m sure many folks are aware of the ongoing Floria Festival in Putrajaya. It started on 10th July and will end on the coming Sunday, 18th. Its basically a flower exhibition. The theme this is on Heliconia flowers.
We went to the festival last Sunday, at around 9.15am. Based on 2007′s experience, I estimated about 3 hours would be sufficient to cover the whole area. Guess what, it took our 7 hours to cover the grounds, and we didn’t even managed to enter the indoor exhibition!
We started at the Putrajaya Cruise area, visiting the booths set up by schools and IPTA/IPTS. Then, we proceeded to visit the lots of state governments, federal agencies and such. The Landscape Department had some performers from Peru.
The outdoor exhibition are itself took us nearly 3.5 hours. We had to take a break to quench our thirst. There were two location for food, one was the numerous stalls along Persiaran Perdana, and the other is the few mobile vehicles (including fast food operators) near the lake. The weather was very hot, and I pity those who came with kids and elderly folks. Luckily, there were tram services along with rickshaw rides to alleviate the strain on the feet.
By the time we reached the main tent for indoor exhibition, the queue was about 30 people long. At one of the locations near the tent entrance, we found five small ducklings try their best to hide under the shades. Pity the animals!
We decided to visit the stalls selling flowers (especially orchids, herbs and fruit/vege plants) and gardening stuff. Bought some plants and stuff. Took another break to rehydrate. When we went back to the main tent, the queue was even longer! We decided to return another day to visit the indoor exhibition.
By the time we left the place around 4.15pm, I think we covered most of the 15 acres of the festival.
We made our second trip on Tuesday the 13th, at around 7pm. The crowd was very minimal (According to the stall staff, Monday was even worse). I guess the frenzy is on weekends only. We visited the indoor exhibition which housed exhibition by famous designers. Sorry to say, very few of those impressed me. Maybe I’m not able to understand the exhibits.
We also dropped by the bonsai exhibition area (outside the tent) which we skipped on the first visit. Some pretty impressive-sized bonsai were on exhibition.
We bought some stuff at the stall, and then made a quick walk along the outdoor exhibition plots. Night time photography was more difficult (I didn’t bring tripod). The second trip took about 2.5 hours. BTW, the ducklings were fast asleep, probably too tired and exhausted.
The 105 year old Maha Mariamman temple Batu 14 Puchong had its Maha Kumbhabhishegam last month (23rd May). The event was from 10am onwards, but we went a bit early. About 20,000 people were expected, but I don’t think it was more than 5000 during the day.
I noticed that quite a number of youths were involved in the crowd control and miscellaneous work, something seldom seen in other temples. In fact, crowd control was quite good.
Highlight of the day was the helicopter which showered flowers on the devotees.
For last two years, I missed out on the Science Fair program organised by Tamil Foundation. This year, I was in danger of missing out again due to lack of time. So, I decided to help out as volunteer on the event day itself. It felt weird being a volunteer after being in organizing capacity in recent years for various events. Anyway, being a volunteer is about following orders, so hopefully I did OK. I was handed an awkward task of monitoring booths 11 to 20 on that day. Awkward in the sense that booths 11 to 16 were on one end, while booths 17 to 20 were on the opposite end of adjacent rows. In the end, it turned out OK because the participants handled most of the problems themselves, barring the odd requests for extra tables, problem with power supply, and problem with exhibit materials falling down Oh yeah, I also took the liberty to go around snapping pictures (more than 200 shots!)
OK, enough of me talking about me. let’s move to the event.
Science Fair started in 2007 on a smaller scale. It is now in its fourth year, and is organised at both state and national levels. The one I attended is Selangor and KL state (combined). It was held at TNB Hall in Bangsar (Jalan Bukit Pantai). The event is open to all Tamil schools in Selangor and KL. I think there are about 97 schools in Selangor and 15 in KL. But a total of 72 schools confirmed to take part this, and eventually 70 turned up. The schools were given topics to choose and they were then expected to come out with experiments that showcase the particular topic. There were few recurring topics during the event. Actually, Tamil Foundation sends facilitators to each school to guide and monitor the progress of the participating teams. The students have to prepare a log book of their activities as well. So, its quite an elaborate and time consuming program (hats off to the organizers and facilitators!)
The event began around 7.30am (but I was uncharacteristically late!). I arrived around 8.10am at the hall, and most of participants were busy setting up their booths. A team consists of 5 students and two teachers, but I saw many booths having more than two teacher, while some even imported “help” from outsider (advice, setting up etc.). Talked to two of my friends who were there in the capacity as free “consultants” for their respective schools. I was simply amazed at the effort put in by teachers and students in most of the booths. Some really looked expensive and professionally done. Even the students were smartly dressed in some instances.
After about 1.5 hours (9.10am) ,the judging began. At this point, only students were allowed to be present at the booths. The rest of the “supporters” were seated around the hall. Judges, in teams of three, went around evaluating between 5 to 6 booths each. I noticed some familiar faces like Ponnusamy, Logeswaran, Kamalendran, Kannan, Karthe, and Velavan among the panel of judges. It was interesting to watch the students trying their best to do their presentation and also answer questions from the judges. Their command of English was quite good as well! Maybe the chosen students were among the best students in their respective schools.
The evaluation ended around 12pm, after which the judges retired to their judges room to reconcile marks. The hall was now open to public, and boy, the public just swarmed the place! Teachers, parents, students..all flocked to view their booths. Proud parents stood beaming as they watched their kids explain to visitors about their experiments. Teachers were busy adjusting things and exchanging notes among themselves. It was hectic, and yet at the same time, there was an air of accomplishment. I just felt proud seeing these kids.
The fair ended around 3pm, and it was time for closing ceremony. At this point there were some confusing on seating arrangements, which I think should have not occurred in the first place. After some sorting out, and apologies to the audience, the closing ceremony started. There were 6 speeches – program coordinator, program director, Tamil Foundation president, chief judge (I was amazed to see my ex-school teacher, Mr VKS Shanmugam up on stage!) , VIP – director of National Science Center Associate Professor Dr Irmawati, and VIP Selangor State EXCO Dr Xavier Jayakumar. Maybe should reduce the speeches to just 3 in future. But I appreciate the speakers who kept their speech to minimal.
After the speeches, it was prize giving time. Even though the event is a expo, but there’s an element of competition to spur the students. Thus various awards were given out. Unfortunately, the description or purpose of the awards were not mentioned, and this kind of defeats the purpose of giving awards in the first place. The movement of students on stage and also arrangement for photography on stage was also not planned properly, resulting in impromptu arrangements. Something to be improved in the next edition, I guess. Perhaps the organisers need to do a simple rehearsal next year to avoid such hiccups.
Finally, the proper winners were announced. The initial prize included cash amount of RM500, RM300, and RM200 respectively for top three winners. But EWRF president agreed to top up RM500 for each of the top three winners for both states. (So, its RM1000, RM800 and RM700 respectively). For KL state, top three schools were chosen while five schools were chosen in Selangor. I didn’t have time to jot down all the winners since was controlling students on one end of the stage. Among the winners which I remember are:
I was touched to see tears of joy from some of the students and even teachers. It goes to show how much they appreciate getting some award or recognition from others. This kind of program can spur students and teachers alike to perform better, not only in education, but in their daily life.
The program ended around 5.30pm. We helped to clean the hall, but I had to leave by 8pm due to other commitments. Not sure what time the rest of them went home.
In summary, it was a good program, an eye-opener for some sections of the community. Its an event that should be given more prominence and support. As for improvements, I think it needs more publicity and funding. Secondly, schools and parents should be encouraged to send their students to attend the fair, apart from just sending few students to take part. As for the organising part, a rehearsal or two will tie up the loose ends.
I take this opportunity to congratulate the organisers, facilitators, judges, volunteers, schools, teachers, parents and students for a job well done.
I hope to contribute again in the National level event later this year.
Problem with IC or Birth Certificate? Come now to MYSEL office for help. Address: 3rd Floor, Plaza MPK, Klang (near Klang old bus station MYDIN). Contact : 03 33411630 or 016 2269230. Every Saturday from 10am - 2pm.
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Pemuda MIC Hotline for students who did not get a place in IPTA is 03-40431111
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Helping Hands by MyIndians.com allows you to directly link to the person who needs help and can personally assist him. The help can be in any form; consultancy and advice, finance, information and even a simple link to a resource. You can ask for help or give help to others.
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MyIndians.com provide useful info and links to skills training, poverty eradication, scholarships, NGOs, citizenship issues, tamil school development and so on.
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Graduates can apply for GEMS program initiated by government to improve their chances of securing jobs.
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DHRRA Malaysia is an NGO that provides community help in terms of counseling, self-empowerment, career guidance, women's aid and so on. Contact Ms Nandhini Ramuloo at 03-78747680 or 012-2737160 to fix an appointment.
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PROGRAM PEMBASMIAN KEMISKINAN BANDAR (PPKB) by Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan (KPKT) to help the urban poor in terms of house rent, transport, nursery assistance, school kids assistance etc. NGOs encouraged to help identify such families. Read more and view the forms at KPKT website.
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Malaysian Hindu Sangam together with is conducting a program to identify and register all Hindu temples in Malaysia. So, if you are living near a temple, help them by providing information of the temple. Visit http://www.myhindutemples.com for more details.
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Tamil Language and Hinduism Classes Available.
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Families earning maximum RM1500 (living in towns) or RM1000 (living in rural area) can register via eKasih to get financial aid from government.
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Bureau of Police Affairs & Rehabilitation and MIC National Youth Chairman contact info ->
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Public Complaints Bureau / Biro Pengaduan Awam. Complain via 03-8872 5777 or fax 03-88887778/37 or click to visit website
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Apply for jobs in government sector SPA website
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Human Resource Ministry's Jobs Malaysia website
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Apply for entrepreneur loans via Youth Economic Promotion Council website
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Apply for entrepreneur loans via Tekun and/or YSS
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Selangor MIC Youth (register for welfare) Chief - Shanker, 012-3836905 or MIC national social bureau head S. Subramaniam at 019-3517474. Alternatively, call Selangor social bureau head A. Sivaraju at 012-3186631 or Selangor Youth secretary D. Kagendran at 019-3521129.
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Oh yeah, I also took the liberty to go around snapping pictures (more than 200 shots!) 
