Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email Since Then was excited to meet Amma (Matha Amritanandamayi), we decided to head to Mines Exhibition Centre yesterday. Amma will be there today as well. I went there earlier, reaching the venue at 5.30pm. Along the way, many buntings could be found, leading the way to the venue. I saw nearly 10 buses at the entrance to Mines ECC.
After parking the car, I walked, together with other visitors, and managed to find our way to the ground floor, where we were made to line up and walk about 2 minutes, before being asked to be seated along unused (unopened ?) shoplots in the building. There were no proper information flow on what’s happening. I was expecting to be given tokens to indicate our turn since it was mentioned in the papers and also via emails from friends. So, I sat there until about 6.45pm, talked a bit to my elderly neighbor, who surprisingly knew some of my relatives (what a small world indeed!).
The crowd was predominantly Indians (locals and foreigners), plus some Chinese and some which can’t be identified easily. Most of them came with families or in groups. Most of the time, volunteers will walk by and sell food coupons, T-shirts, books etc for Amma’s Charity Trust Fund. I had a feeling that the queue was quite long, but since we are seated along shoplot corridors, we can’t see the rest of the crowd. I could only see about 60-80 people who sat along the same corridor. My stomach was rumbling, but I didn’t buy the food there.
At 6.45pm, we were asked to move. We walked about 150 metre, snaking through the shoplots and stopped near the escalator to the first floor (entrance to the hall). Then just arrived and was somewhere way back. I heard some of the volunteers talking that the hall was full, so we have to wait for a while.
Suddenly, there was sound of chinese lion dance. At first, I thought it was some other function. But actually it was part of the welcoming ceremony. Amma just arrived it seemed. I was relieved that I was not late.
To our surprise, the volunteers then asked us to take the escalator, and we were ushered into the hall. The hall was about the size of 1 football field. Amma was seated on a stage at the front with some VIPs and devotees. There were 3 large screen showing close-up of the going-ons on the stage. When we entered, we were seated at the back rows, near to Zone C (6 Zones divided the hall into 6 areas). I would say the crowd was about 3 or 4 thousand people at that time.
A lady was handling the MC job. She invited the VIPs to garland Amma. Among those who came were Indian High Commission Secretary, MHS Boss Vaithilingam, Mohan Swamy, Selayang (or is Serdang) ADUN, and Mines owner and his wife. This was followed by speeches from a representative of Amma Society in Malaysia, representative of Amma’s mission in India, and the ADUN who received first copy of new book (translation of book on Amma’s words into Mandarin).
This was followed by Amma’s speech which was translated into English. It lasted for quite some time. By then, the crowd has swell a bit. Behind me, more chairs were arranged. I think the crowd is more than 5 thousand people by now. Then have also entered the hall, but seated somewhere in front (how can later visitors get front seats?). Some of the crowd was restless and people were walking about, especially at the back. Felt more like a wedding crowd. I guess everyone was waiting for the “hug”. Still no sign of token.
After the speech, some bhajan and devotional songs were sang. More people were trickling in, presumably those who are coming after office. Then’s sister and her family arrived at about 9.30pm. Then and I were getting restless. Then, news came that token were being distributed. Since we sat at the back, we got “W2”, meaning there are people with token starting from “A1”! Looks like it was going to be a long night. I felt very tired, and started having headache. Not enough sleep for last few days, and now may need to stay up till late night.
After talking to one of the volunteers, who said that the hall doors will be closed at 3am (actually it was 4am) and that it will “take a while” to reach “W”, we decided to go back for a shower and return later. We left at nearly 10.10pm. Had dinner on the way back. At 12am, news from the hall was that just reached alphabet “D”. I had feeling we won’t be getting any hugs. Took a short nap till 2am. Current alphabet was “G”. Drove back to Mines.
We reached the hall at 2.45am. Many people were sleeping on the floor. Most came prepared with blankets/mats etc. I saw on stage two lines of people leading on to the centre where Amma was seated. The screen showed close-up of her hugging one person after another, non-stop. The aphabet being called was J. The message was flashed on all the screen for people to view. Each alphabet had 10 numbers (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10). I timed the progress of the token movement, and each alphabet took nearly one hour! Meaning it will be well into the morning when our turn comes!
Looks like its true that if it’s not meant to be, you won’t be hugged. We sat in the hall, feeling tired, helpless and depressed. We wasted time since 5pm waiting for token. So, we decided to leave at 4am. Reached home and slept. I woke up this morning still having headache. Then’s sister called at 8.30am, saying they just came out of the hall. Their alphabet was “U”. Meaning if we stayed on, we would have had our turn around 9am.
I feel for a crowd of few thousand, the whole process could have been handled better. It seems that the crowd was much more less as compared to previous times (due to being weekday). I feel the token could have been given earlier (at the entrance or registration/information counters) so that we don’t need to wait until 9.30pm for it. Imagine coming at 5.30 and getting info that your turn would be the next day morning, at 9.30pm.
On the whole, it was a frustrating experience for a first-timer like me. I think I created more bad karma cursing by the whole episode instead of getting positive energy! 🙁
Probably the organisers lacked manpower, or allocated more volunteers for sales. Being held on weekdays, it will be hard to take part unless one takes leave. Then is thinking of going again tonight, but I’m not interested in queuing up again.
good write-up and fair comments… made me feel as though I was there (minus the wait and hug)