Devotees in Penang get an early start
GEORGE TOWN: Not wanting to miss out on fulfilling their vows due to the total lunar eclipse, a huge number of kavadi bearers made the journey up to the Waterfall Hilltop Temple early on Thaipusam day.
Almost 200 atta (big) kavadi and paal (mini) kavadi, and 20,000 paal kudam (milk pot) carriers reached the temple by noon.
“Around 4,000 of the estimated 6,000 people performed their vows early by shaving their heads,” said temple committee chairman Datuk R. Subramaniam.
There was a large crowd from 9pm on Tuesday until 7am yesterday as they wanted to avoid coinciding with the lunar eclipse.
Retiree J. Periasamy, who was carrying milk pots with his wife and four daughters, said it was better to be early.
“We usually go up to the hilltop temple in the evening on Thaipusam, but decided to do it by 5am this time,” he said.
In Jalan Utama, there was a dozen kavadis being carried in a row by kavadi maker M. Mohana Sundram and his friends.
Others who also carried kavadis were Dr G. Sashikumar, 35, and Dr T. Janardena, 33.
“It’s my ninth year carrying the kavadi. It gets easier over the years and I feel like it’s my calling to carry it each year,” said Dr Janardena.
Subramaniam said a small number of kavadi bearers missed the pooja (prayer) as they only reached the temple late in the evening.
As usual, there was a traffic snarl from Jalan Utama leading to the temple and the Nattukotai Chettiar Temple in Jalan Kebun Bunga.
This year, devotees were also able to print free photographs at the Hewlett Packard Malaysia Manufacturing panthal.
Housewife V. Parameswari, 35, printed photos of her children and said she planned to keep them as souvenir.
Hewlett Packard Malaysia product engineer M. Vigneesha said this was the first time the company offered such a service.