PONGAL 2020

Like any other year the Tamils were celebrating the Pongal Festival, in the month of Thai of the Tamil calendar. The festival extends over 4 days, and the 2nd day would be the main event which falls on the 15th of January this year.

Preparing the Pongal Pot

In Tamil Nadu, this festival accords a long public holiday where most people will return home to their village to celebrate this festival. Malaysian Tamils who have inherited this tradition from their ancestors from India, have continued this practice since they landed in this land call Swarnabhumi.

Placing The Pongal Pot On The Fire

Hence, like in any other acculturation process, in the land now known as Malaysia, the Pongal festival was one where every ethnic community participated with a fervour of gaiety and fun. Especially in rural communities the participation was even more heightened, as the objective of this festival had a universal appeal, which is to thank mother nature that has provided for our very existence. 

Its a Thanksgiving Celebration, which goes beyond the boundaries of race and religion.

Pouring Of Milk In The Pongal Pot

Meanwhile a tear in the very fabric of this inclusive festival came in the form of a circular from the powers that be to declare that this festival is forbidden for Muslims in Malaysia to participate, as the  Islamic religious authorities deemed it to be a non Muslim religious festival. 

It brought shock not only to Malaysian Muslim's who have been participating in this festival for time immemorial but also jolted the Tamilians in Malaysia pertaining to the interpretation of the festival to be deemed to be a religious one. This whole episode threw confusion and placed many Malaysians in a dilemma. To add to further chaos, politicians, including the PM came out strong wishing Happy Pongal to everyone celebrating it.

This issue came about just as Malaysian were settling down to the controversy of Chinese New Year decoration in a secondary school, and now this has to happen.

Fortunately we still have sanity left in the very fabric of our multi ethnic society. Hussamuddin Yaacub, the chairman of Kumpulan Karangkraf, a Malay online tabloid is on mission to promote inter racial harmony and ease racial tension, by mooting a campaign called "Uninstall Hatred: Reboot Malaysia and Global Harmony."

Overflowing Of Boiling Milk Symbolizing

Abundance of Prosperity 

It is sad to see Malaysia, which was once the epitome of multiracial unity, an served as an exemplary society to the world, has degenerated to the point where even a simple seasons greetings are forbidden by certain communities.

It was not like that when I was growing up in little town called Segamat, everyone celebrated every every other festival sincerely, with a sense of brotherhood. Religious diversities nor social differences, got in the way of our bond. It was all about "respect" and "acceptance" amongst us, the word "tolerance" never arose.

Somewhere along the way, I guess people forgot the brotherhood in us, in turn, politics and economics consumed our daily life. The motto turned out, "to each it's own." It became a field day for politicians and religious bigots to cast doubts in the minds of people in order to alienate and fragmentize society for ease of control, for self serving purpose.

I believe this "bluff" will eventually seize, people in due time will see "the forest from the trees," and will wake up from this slumber, and realize that deep down, we are all the same, and we all strife for the same thing, a harmonious society with care and concern for each others well being.

I am waiting for the return of the GLORY DAYS of MALAYSIA, TANAH TUMPAH DARAHKU (the land where my blood spilled).

Cooked Sweet Rice To Be Shared With Family

And Friends In The Hope For Another 

Sweet Year Ahead with Shared

Prosperity

Ravi Varmman
18.23
Subang Jaya
19012020 

    

THE AVERTED BATTLE OF NAGADIPA

It was 523BCE, five year after Siddhartha Gautama attained Buddhahood, and through his vision he saw two royal kinsmen of the Naga Kingdom of Sri Lanka, were preparing for battle. The nephew Chulodara and his uncle Mahodara were both after the Gem Set Throne of Nagadipa. This little islet is mentioned in both Kundalakeshi and Manimekalai (both regarded as two of the oldest Tamil  Buddhist literature) as Manipallavam of Naka Nadu, present day Nainativu at the tip of the Jaffna Peninsula, Sri Lanka.

The Kiripalu Tree

Buddha was said to have presided over the warring kinsmen under this Kiripalu tree. The banyan tree next to the Kiripalu tree also bears witness to this event. The Buddha in his sermon explained about the evils of discord and the benefits of living harmoniously in peaceful coexistence. To get the warring kinsmen's attention, it was written in the Mahawamsa, that the Buddha had to perform certain miracle, where he darkened the sky with thunderous clap and then brightened it immediately after that. 

Eventually the kinsmen and the entire people of the land, paid obeisance to the Buddha and the Gem set Throne was saved from certain carnage.

The world has evolved since, no sermon alone is going to change the way people see each other. 

Conflict, according to J Krishnamurthy:

"WE join groups, we join societies hoping something good would come out of it; 

and soon we are lost in beliefs, in contentions, in ambitions, in appalling stupidities. 

It requires a great deal of understanding to break away from all this. 

No one will help us, because everybody beliefs something and has committed himself to something or other. 

Being caught in all this one grows old; then there is despair and tragedy and one accepts it as the inevitable."

What started as mere survival, humans have evolved into fragmented green eyed monsters with self centered motives. Though I am not mincing my words, at the same time I also am not denying the very existence of accepting, caring, compassionate and altruistic human beings all around us. However the former is contemptuously bedeviling the latter, stifling the very effort in creating a just society.

The Nagadipa Raja Maha Viharaya 

(The temple dedicated to Buddha at Nainativu)

Greeja and I were overwhelmed by merely being there at Nainativu, soaking in so much of significance that place had. More so, beyond the Nagadipa Raja Maha Viharaya, only about 500 meters away stands the Nagapooshini Amman Temple, an ancient Hindu temple which going on the Brahmananda Purana should predate the Buddha presence at Nainativu. Legend has it that this temple stands for universal peace, prosperity and humanity. 

The Nagapooshini Amman Temple

   The Inner Compound of The Nagapooshini Amman Temple

Both these temples are thronged by thousands of visitors of all races, religion and from all over the world. In hosting these visitors both temples in solidarity provide "annadhanam" or offering of food to temple guests. We had tasty vegetarian food served in dried banana bark, simple but it was very fulfilling. 

Food on Dried Banana Bark

This temple can't be more environmentally friendlier than this, where upon finishing our meal we are to throw our serving platter into a bin area, where the cows feast on it. It is an eco system by itself. 

The Bin Area

(look closely you could see the cows feasting)

It is the beginning of another year, the New Year Celebration is over, the fireworks have died down, to many it is back to the same old grime. Many may have pledged their own new year resolution, some may try hard, some more may even give up before they even start. But how many people would be reflecting upon themselves to be a better person. My experience at Nainativu was simply a humbling process, realizing how small a spec "i" am, and the lesson I learned was, everything starts with a "will," and taking "a" step forward in pursuit of it. 

New Year, New Vision, but the same old me, that is not going to work. 

Whether it is the egoistic Trump and Xi Jinping, the Recalcitrant Hassan Rouhani and Kim Jong Un, the Unpredictable Mahathir and Recep Erdogan, the Misunderstood Narendra Modi and Joko Widodo or even the totally lost Imran Khan and Kassym Jomart Tokayev, to name a few political leaders, who are contributors to the many uncertainty and chaos that have befell the world, they should make an effort to see humanity beyond  politics and economics, or else this malady will continue.

If only sanity prevails the world will be a better place to live. 

Do we need a miracle like the one performed by the Buddha in Nagadipa to awakened us from this materialistic slumber?

I don't know.

Let's not just "hope," instead "act" towards a better tomorrow.

Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu (Peace, Peace,Peace)

from the Kirupalu Tree

Ravi Varmman

0119

Subang Jaya

02012020