15 years ‘toying” with idea. Great! One wonders what was the hurdles that created much toying time. Anyways, the first step of setting up the academy has been done. Next is to find students and start the training I guess. It pays quite well to be a priest, so school leavers may want to consider this as a career option as well.
An academy has been set up to train and accredit Hindu priests in the country in a move to reduce the number of foreign priests from India.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said the Government had been toying with the idea of setting up such an academy for more than 15 years.
”At present, there are people practising locally as temple priests with various types of training which are very confusing.
”With the setting up of an academy, there will be a national body to recognise and accredit the priests,” he said after launching the academy at Jalan Pasar in RPT Jelapang Tambahan here yesterday.
He said at present, there were 350 priests from India serving at various local Hindu temples in the country.
“But there is a need for thousands of priests,” Dr Subramaniam said, admitting however that the local Hindu community might take some time to get used to the idea of having locally trained priests.
Dr Subramaniam said the Hindu Priests Association would be in charge of the syllabus which had been drawn up after consultation with leading institutions in India.
He said under the syllabus, it would take five years to become a full-fledged priest.
“There are five grading, allowing those at each level to perform different functions,” he said, adding that, for example, those who passed Grade One could perform the worship ritual pooja while those with Grade Five could consecrate new temples.
Its Thaipusam, the religious festival to celebrate Lord Muruga!
Like most of the previous year, we planned to visit Batu Caves. We left home at 6.10am and arrived at Bat Caves at around 6.40am. Parking took another few minutes and there traffic jam was after taking the roundabout from Jalan Kuching.
While driving past the entrance (on MRR2), we can see that the crowd was more than last year, since we usually go to Batu Caves early morning around the same time. In fact the stairs were packed with people.
An ugly sight greeted me as I was looking for parking. Few youths and adults were chatting with beer bottles in the hands while waiting near their car.
Parked car on the flyover. The slip road leading to Petronas after Batu Caves was closed.
The stalls were located below the new dedicated ramp which crosses the river and railway track. The ramp was closed to vehicles to allow the kavadi and kudam bearers walk through. If not, the devotees have to take a risky (but shorter) route crossing the railway track.
The venue where Brahma Kumaris and Nestle stalls were usually located was replaced with the cancelled state government’s Fiesta Deepavali banners. Brahma Kumaris stall is now located beneath the ramp.
Did the mudi kanikai at one of the stall below the new ramp, and proceeded to walk back to the temple compound.
Lots of nursing colleges set up booths, providing eye candy for the youths. I saw Winfield, Nirwana (with Putera MIC), MAHSA and MAsterskill (if I’m not mistaken).
We started walking into the temple compound at 7.35am. Compared to last year, there were not ropes to demarcate the lines. So, it was a bit of free flow.
Lots of rubbish around and its not even 8am! All rubbish bins were overloaded.
Police moved in groups of 2,3 and 4. But I don’t think there were 1000 policemen there. There were also RELA and FRU, apart from the St John members and temple volunteers.
Took us 40 minutes from compound entrance till the top of the stairs. The middle lane was allocated for kavadis, while the left lane for people going up. However, since the top was crowded, many people were coming down using left lane, thus making the journey more difficult.
The signboards for Paal Kudam, Archanai, and Kavadi were only found at about 50 metres in the cave. And the paal kudam queue was long! It would have been better if the notices were put up earlier along the cave or even from the compound itself so that the crowd could be segregated earlier.
We prayed for around 30 minutes or so and made our way down. The trip down was slow since the crowd was huge and lots of kavadis were going down the stairs after fulfilling their penance.
Something else that’s make a comeback this time is beggars. I saw a family that looked like foreigners sitting near the cave entrance.
Read the bottom of the stairs at around 9.15am. We spent another 15 minutes taking some shots and watching the kavadis. It was getting hot, and as usual, we didn’t waste time milling around the stalls.
Left Batu caves around 10am, using MRR2 towards Sentul/Gombak. The other side of the highway was jammed. There’s the new DUKE highway along MRR2 that gives you access to Jalan Duta, Jalan Kuching etc (Toll is RM2). Reached Puchong within 40 minutes.
BTW, the management office looks new (and expensive). I wonder if its really necessary. Maybe the money could have been put to better use, like giant LCD display screens, proper signages and more dustbins.
And quite a few banners mentioning Nadarajah’s name in a weird way. It kind of separates him (as the chairman) from the committee. Looks like exercise in self-promotion.
News coverage on Tv2 (Tamil news) and Tv3 (Buletin) showed the visitors quite happy with the improvements done this year. Those interviewed said that it was easier to fulfill their vows.
Read about last year’s Thaipusam article here: 2009.
As the crowd grows bigger every year (and not to mention the negative elements which tend to create chaos and anger among devotees), Thaipusam at Batu Caves sees devotees fulfilling their vows as early as a week before. With the coming Thaipusam falling on a weekend and part of a 3 days holiday in the Federal Territory, one can expect more tourists, and curious onlookers in addition to more crowd from outstation.
Thaipusam may be a week away but there are already devotees making their way up the 272 steps in Batu Caves here to pray and give thanks to Lord Muruga to avoid the crowd on the day of the festival.
Businessman K. Karthigan said his wife and him shaved their heads to give thanks to Lord Muruga for blessing them with a baby boy.
“My wife and I had been trying for a son but my wife had some gynaecological problems.
“However, after praying, her condition got better and was able to bear our son, who is now four months old,” said the 35-year-old when met at the Sri Subramaniam Swamy Temple in Batu Caves on Saturday.
“We came to perform our prayers earlier so that my wife and son would not have to join the Thaipusam crowd,” he added. Karthigan lives in Seremban.
Retiree R. Pathmavathi, 71, who was carrying a pal kodam (milk pot kavadi), said her family and her decided to come early to the temple because she had a difficult experience previously on Thaipusam Day.
“I could not even go beyond the foot of the Batu Caves steps. There were so many people. As we get older, we want to avoid such crowds,” said the grandmother of two.
Indian tourist K. Shrawan, 50, said the majestic Lord Muruga statue at the foot of the caves reminded him of the 17m-tall Sravana Belgola statue at a Jain temple in his country.
“I find Batu Caves very nice and peaceful. We don’t normally see limestone caves back in India,” said the banker, adding that in India Thaipusam was also celebrated on a grand scale.
Sri Maha Mariamman Devasthanam chairman Datuk R. Nadarajah said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein would attend this year’s celebration on Jan 30.
“We are expecting about 1.5 million people. During the PM’s visit, we will urge him to make Thaipusam a national holiday.
“Then, all Malaysians can participate,” he told reporters yesterday.
The Thaipusam celebrations will kick off with the Holy Silver Chariot procession that leaves the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Jalan Tun H.S. Lee early in the night of Jan 29.
It is expected to reach the Batu Caves temple at 11am, followed by a flag-raising ceremony at 4pm to mark the official commencement of the festival.
KTM commuter train service will be available at the Batu Caves station on Thaipusam Day.
Yeah, there are calls every year to make more states declare Thaipusam as a public holiday. I especially wonder what is happening in Kedah. Its the second year running under the PAS government and the promise of public holiday is for Thaipusam still remain unfulfilled. I hope the makkal there will start to pressure their state representatives.
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The intro to the poll received many interesting and varied comments. Do read them first over here.
The poll ran from September 15th until October 3rd (18 days). A total of 175 response was elicited, with a majority saying they do wear such religious marks (67%). 9% do so on special occasions, while 7% do not wear such marks as they don’t believe in it. 6% wear such a mark if they remember while 4% feel uncomfortable doing so. 3% each voted for reasons “not praying” and “divisive mark”, while only 1% cited health reason.
[poll id=12]
As usual, this poll is just a general indication and is not representative of any segment/group of the population. The demographics of the voters are unknown, and as such, its relevance is limited to being a topic for discussion.
The earlier article received comments saying that its a personal choice and that no necessary need to wear marks on the forehead (not necessarily vibuthi only, can be thilak, or kungkumum, santhanam etc. too).
It is possible that many people wear such marks without knowing the benefit or use to one’s self and community. Some argue its a personal choice or a tradition/culture (which is possible as Hinduism is firmly entrenched in Indian culture).
I hope the poll did trigger readers to investigate further and learn something about putting religious marks on their foreheads.
Is it merely culture/fashion/symbolic or is it actually beneficial in some scientific/medical way?
Do we actually know why need to wear such marks on our forehead? Is there a valid reason acceptable to us?
Do we forsake the culture/fashion/symbol (if that’s what it is) due to the environment we work/live in or do we educate those around us to appreciate the diversity?
Does wearing such mark indicate one’s “holiness”? Many will agree that its a big “NO”.
Is wearing such marks considered creating friction by highlighting the differences between “you” and ‘others”?
Does wearing such marks indicate one’s backwardness or unprofessionalism or “stuck in certain mentality” type?
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I guess the Indian culture of honoring cow as sacred/taboo (especially for Hindus) is not much of a trend nowadays. There are Hindus who consume beef, even in a tropical climate like Malaysia where the weather is warm and there’s plenty of choice food. Of course, there’s the argument why can’t eat beef, but can eat chicken, mutton, fish etc. After all, the rooster is symbol of Lord Muruga, and fish is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. That’s discrimination right? 🙂
We also see cattle breeders selling cows for the meat. And even restaurant owners like the folks below who have beef as part of the menu (they serve German food, so not much option I guess).
So, when it comes to making a living or doing what you have passion (like the cousins below), we can adapt and change according to needs. One can find literature saying that beef-eating was common in ancient India. And even now, India exports beef ( buffalo meat also) to many countries.
We can also talk about dharma – serving food for people is good deed. And if the customer wants to have a meal with beef or pork or whatever, is it the restaurant owner’s dharma to fulfill the need?
So, I wonder, why bother protesting over the cow head incidence in Shah Alam as insult to Hindus?
SHARING a passion for German cuisine, three cousins with no previous experience in the food and beverage industry decided to venture into business.
“We love German food especially the pork knuckles and we used to go out with our spouses to the different restaurants in town,” said Berlin Biergarten director Dr Kunalan, 37.
“Since we enjoy it so much, we thought why not just open up our own restaurant?” he said.
Together with his cousins Dr Loganathan and K. Vijayendran, the trio toyed with the idea of setting up a German restaurant with a more casual ambience that people could bring their family to.
“We usually bring our children with us and we wanted a place that looked more like a restaurant than a drinking place. We want people to come and appreciate the food,” said Dr Kunalan.
“Our wives thought we were crazy at first and they didn’t believe that we would do it. None of us have any experience in the business so we started learning as we went along,” said Dr Loganathan.
Dr Kunalan said they created the menu based on what they liked with input from their executive chef S. Panneer, 33, who is experienced in Western cuisine.
The roasted pork knuckles is synonymous with German cuisine and at the Berlin Biergarten, chef Panneer cooked up the Berlin Speciality Crispy Pork Knuckle, which is roasted with garlic and herbs. instead of being marinated with German beer.
What was intriguing about the dish was the bulb of roasted garlic served with the knuckle.
“Yes, the garlic can be eaten,” said Dr Kunalan with a laugh at my puzzled expression.
Instead of the pungent taste one would expect from biting into a whole clove of garlic, the roasted one was surprisingly soft to the bite and has a sweet fragrant taste.
Panneer explained that the garlic was also roasted with herbs together with the pork knuckle.
There was also a variety of German sausages to choose from like the traditional Bratwurst, which was served with sauerkraut and herbed button mushrooms, and the Chicken Black Pepper Sausage.
“We want to offer variety to our customers so they will also find chicken, beef and lamb sausages on our menu,” said Dr Kunalan.
For those who do not fancy digging into a meat dish, there was the vegetarian Berlin Pasta.
“It is cooked with five types of mushrooms with a vegetable broth,” said Panneer.
BERLIN BIERGARTEN, Soho KL Lot J-01-04, Solaris Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur (Tel: 03-6203 0958). Business hours: 11am to 11pm daily (until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays). Non-halal.
NOTE: This is not an advertisement for the restaurant. As always – SAY NO TO ALCOHOL!
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