Thaipusam beckoned again on 1st Feb this year. Initially, I thought of going to Batu Caves on the eve and come back early in the morning, but decided against that. Instead, went to Putrajaya to see the Federal Territories Day celebration. On Thaipusam proper (Feb 1), left for Batu Caves at 7.45am and surprisingly, no jam! Reached the place at 8.15, managed to get parking by PAYING RM15. Even though there’s a campaign for using public transport, I still drive since I may need to go back suddenly, and don’t want to take chances with the public transport. Noticed that a lot of enterprising individuals collecting money from those who park under the overhead highway and public space. Don’t want to pay? Then you risk damages to your vehicle.

It was a short walk to the temple, since the carpark was just immediately after the Divine Life Society (DLS) ashramam. Oh ya, the crowd was swelling. I felt it was about the same as last year. The presence of non-Indians seem to be slightly more than last year as well. Anyhow, we searched for the mudi kaanikai stalls. Found the one next to the railway track, and within 10 minutes, my hair was gone. All for another RM15.

After shaving my head, we started our journey to the top of the hill. We followed the devotees coming from the river. The crowd started to grow. The big kavadis were coming in one by one. Those carrying paal kudam (milk pots) were also making their way to the temple. It will be like this until evening. It took us nearly an hour to finally reach the temple inside. Many took this chance to take photos from the stairs. The bottleneck at the temple foothill was terrible. I find that the foreigners from India seems to behave worse than locals. They just push their way in. After covering 272 stairs, we felt relieved. The air was cool inside, aided by a moderate weather condition.

Our relief was shortlived. as we approached the deity, the crowd was getting unruly. There seemed to be chaos as the paal kudam bearers blocked the outgoing path of those who finished praying to Lord Muruga. Devotees were getting restless and some started to push their way through. There was a family of four next to us who found out that they could not do the archanai since they did not buy the items earlier. The thought it was like in temples where you just pay and the temple provides the prayers items. The girls were quite upset that nothing was mentioned about this earlier. They were grumbling and complaining but nothing can be done, since there’s no way you can turn back and walk against the tide. However, we managed to say our prayer and ask for HIS blessings without much disruption, since I didn’t bother buying the prayer items. Never did so for so many years…

AS we left Lord Muruga’s abode, RELA members were being summoned to control the crowd. We did not spend much time up in the cave since many more devotees were inching closer. We began to move back towards the cave’s entrance. I tooks some snaps of the crowd, just to give an idea of the size.

Our descent started. I managed to get some shots from the top of the stairs. The crowd was unbelievable! On the way down, we were entertained by Mr Nadarajah’s (Batu Caves Committee Chairman) and Dato Seri Samy Vellu’s speeches. There was a mention of plans to introduce cable cars. Mr Nadarajah also took this opportunity to launch his book on Batu Caves. Other than that, the same old points were repeated.

We made our way towards the Batu Caves entrance, not before having cool orange juice served by the Indian police officers association volunteers at their thannir panthal (drinks booth). We did not stop any other stalls in the temple. Their locations actually hamper the movement of the devotees. Looks like the temple management never seemed to have learned anything from organising this festival for the last few decades. Noticed a row of beggars sitting down along the central walkway, probably foreigners who plan to make a quick buck from the devotees and tourists.

Next stop was Nestle’s mooru panthal which is always a hit. We visited Unggal Choice vegetarian burger booth, but was informed that the operation will start at 3pm only. As we passed by Sai Association’s Blood Donation Campaign under the MRR flyover, we heard the talk on organ donation. Thus on this holy day, we decided to be organ donors. Now the donor cards are sitting in the wallet, waiting for its day. Met Anand and Parani, two old university friends who are ardent Sai devotees.

It was already 12pm. We walked back towards our car slowly, hoping that all our prayers will be answered by the Lord. Many more devotees were making their way to the entrance, faces filled with anticipation and hope. Well, that’s my day at Batu Caves. Now for my comments….

I’ve been going to Batu Caves since coming back to KL, bar in 2005. I feel that many things can be improved. For example, I found undiyals (donation box) located at ackward positions such as in the middle of pathways at the hilltop. The crowd couldn’t move smoothly due to this. Secondly, there should be more dustbins provided. The amount of rubbish strewn around can’t be explained by words. The least the organisers can do is provide proper place to dispose rubbish! I also dearly hope that consultants can be hired to draw a proper crowd dispersal plan. This should cover signages, rest areas, location of toilets, stalls, etc. Another thing is the wearing of footwear in the cave. Some devotees leave their footwear at the bottom of the stairs as they go in. But when they come down the stairs, they are on the other side, and find it mighty impossible to get back their footwear. Perhaps the whole Batu Caves compound can be paved and declared as no footwear zone.

Thaipusam is first and foremost a religious event. However, due to abuse of the terms “multi-ethnic and multi-cultural”, and lure of tourist moolah, Thaipusam is on the verge of being reduced to a money-making show (or is it already?). People are being overcharged from parking to prayer items. With all those free food (annathanam and thannir panthals), why do we allow food stalls? Is Thaipusam the place to buy pots and pans, or decorative items? Sure, more than 1 million people visit Batu Caves, but this is not an excuse to create business opportunities. It should be focusing on the visitors’ comfort and safety.