My alarm went off around 8.30 in the morning but I woke up before that . Not forgetting I need to meet up with Lotte at tekun café to visit an Indian temple near Tesco . We took breakfast together before departure . Once we reached Sri Krishna Bagawan Alayam(temple in tamil) , the prayer was already started . So we just joined in & sat behind an Indian family . After asking , we found out that the prayer today was to worship the monkey god – Hanuman . After some rituals , the Indian priest bathed the monkey god with milk , coconut water , some yellowish & orange color-like liquids . For the family who is taking up the responsibility in worshiping the god , prayers will be going on and they will have lunch after the prayer . There are 1008 songs they have in worshiping the monkey god but only a few will be sang during the prayer . After finish bathing Hanuman , we are given milk & coconut water which were poured onto our palms to consume .Milk representing long life while coconut water representing the gift of power . I’m was given kunkuman (the red dot on the forehead) right after that . Oh yeah , she as well . There are actually 3 different types of colours where they will apply on the forehead sometimes . As I mentioned earlier , kunkuman(red) representing blessing & protection from the god of birth , vibudi(white) representing blessing & protection from the god of protection while santhana(yellow) representing the blessing & protection from the god of death . If you dunno them , they are Brahma , Siva & Vishnu which are the creator , protector & destroyer of Hinduism . These are blessings & protection from gods which keeps the evil away from harming you .
We joined them to sing some songs (in the purpose of worship) including vaaltholi , namaavalzi , murugan songs & also rama songs(I just a name a few cuz they are like so many) . It lasted about nearly 1 hour , or might be more & there is another prayer after that . According to the priest , Indian temple must be closed around 11.30 in the morning cuz the gods will be resting starting from 12 in the noon .Nevertheless , there will be exceptions if there is a prayer going on like today .
It was strange to say that although they are making so much of noises (with all due respects & mean no harm ) throughout the whole prayer , I felt kinda peaceful deep in my heart . I really need this so badly as I’m feeling kinda down in recent 2 or 3 days . So I told myself to just only be like this in 3 days! 3 days ! Is the only duration I’ll ever be like this & feel like locking my self in somewhere . NOT A DAY MORE , NOT A DAY LESS . And today was the 2nd day . Vance , come back ya . U can be like this NO MORE !!! I know feeling this long foraging peaceful deep in my heart was the power of having a religious belief .I experienced that before while I was doing mass at St.Michael Church back in Ipoh(my hometown)although I’m actually a free thinker with no particular religious stand .Somehow , I do believe there are greater power beyond mankind and I believe most in the values I feel that are righteous and on top of that , I BELIEVE IN MY SELF . No matter is it about choosing my path of life , my inner feelings & my very own abilities .I was so surprised to see there were 2 or 3 Chinese came in around 11.30 in the morning .I guess that was what cross culture is about . Understand , accept , respect & love not only different cultures but different community as well as how & what me & Lotte are doing at this moment . Rather than just materially understands it , I prefer to feel & experienced it in a more practical manner . Anything serving to god must be in odd number while offerings for ancestors & forefathers will be in even number .
During the lunch , we were given this sweet snack called Ladu , it is mainly made from ghee(kept cow milk) . Oh I love that as it was as sweet as my some1 =) Man I’m really sick of feeling depress 24-7 in these 2 days , it was so god damn torturing my mind . Before I left , I interviewed a very nice Indian lady Madame Krishnaveni regarding the NRIC project of mine . So , there are just 2 pep left for me to interview in coming 2 days . Initially , she declined after knowing her photo will be published on a poster as well as the internet but after my effort of pursuing , she finally nodded her head & I was like thank god for looking after me . I went back to my hostel after that & I’m really glad I did learned something new & met some real nice pep from different ethnicity .
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