Immersion Project 4 : Visiting Batu Caves Temple::

On, 2^nd May 2012 our group have visited Batu Caves Temple. Firstly, Farah, Farihah, Ina and Saidah gather at Hafsa’s bus stop waiting for Nik to pick us. After that we go to the temple.  All this while we just past the temple but today we are visiting it.

All of us are very curious about the temple. This is because when we past the road we just see the big statue of Lord Murugan. Today we have discovered there are a lot of statues located at the Batu Caves Temple.

Farihah, Ina and I (Farah) take the challenge to climb up 272 steps high to the cave. While we are climbing, the monkeys also climb. Hehe. Although it is 10 o’clock we saw a lot of tourists there. We climb up until we reach the cave. We actually try to communicate with the Sami; however he refuses to give the cooperation (he seems did not fluent in Malay or English).  He asks us to go in the cave to see the officer. While we were there, the officer thinks that we want to give donation to the temple. Actually we ask for information about the temple.  Now we understand that, although we live in the same country but still there a lot of people that cannot speak Malay. After that we climb down.

While we are climbing, actually Saidah and Nik not just waiting for us but they are interviewing the tourist and also some of the visitors. They have interview one couple. From the conversation we identify the purpose of them coming to the temple.  

Firstly, they said that this is the first step for them before opening their business. Therefore they pray to be blessed from their Lord (main purpose). In addition, they go to the sacred place because they felt strong vibration between them and the temple. Besides, it is also located near to their house.

Form our observation (before we interview them), we saw that they burn candles. So, we ask the purpose of burning the candles. The interviewee said that as they are requesting blessing and etc. from their God, so they burn the candles as symbol of giving something to their God.  

In addition, they also bring flowers to the father (sami) so that the father will pray on their behalf. After that they also will get different flower from the father. The flower they get will be place in their prayer room (at their house). Significant of choosing flowers because flower is something that is soft, have good smell and also beautiful.  

Besides that, we also have interviewed a woman. We ask her about the occasion that usually held in Batu Caves Temple. She said The Thaipusam Festival is celebrated at this temple. Thaipusam Festival is a Hindu’s Festival which is celebrated every January /February. This festival is celebrated when the Hindus commemorate Parvati, a Hindu Goddess who gave Murugan a spear to conquer Soorapadam, the evil spirit.

                At first, we feel awkward because just the five of us who wear hijab. In addition, other tourists also give a long glance to us. Maybe they are wondering why are we at the temple. However, we take this as a challenge. This is because our purpose of going there is to learn and get to know other religion house of worship and their activities.

For your information this is our first experience of visiting Batu Caves Temple after 4 years of studying in Kuala Lumpur. This assignment makes us go there.hehe.  We feel glad to have the opportunity o visit this sacred place for Hindu. In addition, we are happy because we are able to climb up the stairs and also get some information from the people there. 

In conclusion, as a counselor –to-be we should prepare ourselves with knowledge about other religion, races, ethnic and etc. This is to help us well-prepared whenever we have client from different background then ours. We recommended to all of you out there to grab this kind of opportunity. It is great to know more about others. 

Lets enjoy the pictures !!

p/s: This slide show is best view when the internet is 'running fastly'.  please be patience. ^_^