Indonesia's Gunung Padang Pyramid Mystery 

By Ar. Nadge Ariffin

The sprawling nation of Indonesia is often overlooked in world issues. This includes in fields such as archaeology or other aspects of history, ancient or modern. But together with its ethno-culturally related neighbours Malaysia and the Philippines, which together make up the vast Malay Archipelago of Southeast Asia, there are many treasures and much to learn in this region. 

Indonesia itself consists of about 17,500 islands; it is the biggest archipelagic nation on earth. But it wasn't always insular. As near as around 10,000-plus years ago during the last Ice Age when ocean levels were much lower, Indonesia and its above-mentioned neighbours were a conjoined continent. Connected to mainland Asia by the Malay Peninsula, this continent is sometimes geographically called Sundaland although native Malayic legends call it by a local name “Benua Mu”, the lost continent of Mu. 

Mu was long inhabited as attested by the many bones unearthed of prehistoric humans in the region. A most famous of whom is the 11,000-year-old Perak Man, the oldest complete skeleton, found ceremonially buried in a cave at the UNESCO-listed Lenggong Valley in Malaysia. But various other evidences of sapient human presence around the archipelago, including prehistoric tools and paintings, go back tens of thousands of years. 

How about pyramids?

Ancient built structures in Indonesia are a contentious issue and still require much proper research. At present in Southeast Asia the oldest-known built civilisational site is at Sungai Batu in Kedah, Malaysia. Surprisingly it was an iron smelting and exporting complex of brick structures, certified dating back to the 8th century BC (yes, Before Christ). The Sungai Batu site is part of the old Malay kingdom of Kedah, which still exists today as a component royal state in Malaysia, making it one of the oldest continuous geopolitical entities in the world on par with contemporary Greece.

In Indonesia, a main reference point of historic architecture is the spectacular 9th-century AD Borobudur carved stone temple complex in central Java. This stepped pyramidal temple-mountain predates Cambodia's Angkor Wat by several centuries. There are in fact many other historic stone or brick temples and structures numbering in the hundreds scattered around the region, attesting to the civilisational power of Southeast Asia. Besides stupa towers such as the stunning Hindu Prambanan temples, many are pyramidal structures, especially stepped models. This is the type associated with the Gunung Padang site.

The Gunung Padang Pyramid

Located several hours drive from Indonesia's capital Jakarta inland at Karyamukti village, Cianjur regency, West Java province, Gunung Padang is touted as a megalithic site and has become a tourist attraction with basic facilities.

While “gunung” means mountain, “padang” means bright as in ‘daylight’ or even ‘bringing light’ in the local Sundanese language. Gunung Padang is almost 900 meters above sea level and at the summit there are five stepped, flat terraces strewn with some seemingly shaped rocks and stones in rubble or jumbled rows and walls. While Sunda locals had always known of the “punden berundak” (stepped terrace) sacred site and legends associated with it, including as a palace of king Prabu Siliwangi, the Dutch colonials did mention it in reports from 1914. 

In 1979 following local initiatives, studies were begun by the Indonesian government, and have continued off and on with various teams doing research. Several surveys including lab-tested dating studies have been done, but with the resulting controversies and contentions more peer reviews, detailed studies and verifications are needed. Funds, or lack thereof, are a perennial issue. Nonetheless, at end-June 2014, the Ministry of Education and Culture declared Gunung Padang a national Megalithic Site, covering about 72 acres or 29 hectares.

At present, this writer was told that Gunung Padang’s status is in the process of land acquisition for the whole site to enable more comprehensive studies. 

For now, the announced survey results basically declare that the site is a huge asymmetric stepped pyramid built in four layers over different eras covering an extinct volcanic formation. The dates for each layer range from 3000 years BP (before present) at the youngest or top surface, all the way down to over 20,000 years BP at the lowest claimed man-modified section. Parts of the summit site are comparable in looks or concept to the ancient mountain city of Machu Picchu in Peru, or even Nan Madol megalithic lagoon city on Micronesia's Pohnpei island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Research leader geophysicist Danny Hilman Natawidjaja of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences suggests that the site is a very ancient pyramid temple dating as far back as possibly 28,000 years and that there are chambers or cavities within the hill or pyramid. 

Certainly more verification studies need to be conducted, but if the claims are correct, Gunung Padang will obviously change the entire perception of prehistoric societies. More so if coming from Southeast Asia, it would completely overturn the history of the beginnings of human civilisation. For now, the Gunung Padang pyramid remains a mystery.

Footnote: Internet searches for Gunung Padang would usually bring up information and images of not one but two other claimed pyramid sites further east, towards the Borobudur site. These are Gunung Lalakon and Gunung Sadahurip, which are presently tall hills that when photographed from certain angles look uncannily like four-sided pyramids. Similarly, both have been claimed as long-forgotten ancient man-made structures. Thus, even more pyramid mysteries.

Photos and captions:

1. About 400 andesite stone steps of 1.5m wide connect the base to the summit of Gunung Padang.

2. General view of the stone-strewn summit from the lowest terrace. The flat ‘musical rock’ just after the lower line produces sounds when hit.

3. The author at the lowest terrace; there appear to be some arranged stones, otherwise most are ‘collapsed’ rubble.

4. A view of some of the 'arranged' lines of stones. Are they natural or if man-made; original historic, reconstructed, or new?

5. Some stones appear to be buried upright or dolmen-like, some stacked as retaining walls giving the overall terraced ‘Machu Picchu look’.

6. The author pointing to a small menhir, the only one at the site. Is it original and for what purpose, or newly placed?

Visited in February, 2020
Written in March, 2020

Nadge Book Review > Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World

Out of Eden: The Peopling of the World 
Book by Stephen Oppenheimer 

Nadge's review 

Oct 04, 2016  ·  edit

it was amazing

Read from May 01 to June 01, 2016

As a Cultural Heritage Specialist doing research and media work, I could not put this book down. In fact I re-read the sections on the migration out of Africa and especially the parts on Southeast Asia/ Australasia and the peopling of Sundaland (nickname for the then unsunken continent known to the Malay peoples as 'Benua Mu'), and after the deluge now the Malay Archipelago. It's interesting how all the native Bumiputra/ Pribumi of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines - whether Orang Asli/Suku Terasing or all the Rumpun Melayu/ Austronesians - are indeed co-indigenous to Southeast Asia straight from Africa and not wholesale ancient migrants from or via Yunnan, China or wherever as once thought. There is an ancient co-existing link between all of the natives, with the Melayu Asli even having a very unique genetic fingerprint not found anywhere else on Earth. My copy of the book even has the autograph of Dr. Oppenheimer himself, which I obtained during his Keynote Address at the Sungai Batu International Conference in Sungai Petani, Malaysia in May, 2016.

Was reading this book everywhere, even kept me up at night.

Yee Sang – From the Time the World and Malaya Were Young

By A. Najib Ariffin - Nadge

“Do you know yee sang, the veggie dish with raw fish?” I asked breathlessly as I went around China in my research visit years ago. When the person I asked didn’t speak English, I switch to Chinese, which makes it worse. Although I’m part Chinese, my Mandarin is almost non-existent, as my street dialect is Cantonese and even then my tones are tortured.

“So, do you know yee sang?” The best answer I get is a puzzled, “You mean like sushi?”

Well, that trip established it: the dish of raw fish and mixed chopped veggies and sauces that we Malaysians and Singaporeans take for granted during Chinese New Year was NOT common in China. Not even on the 7^th day of CNY as it traditionally was served in Malaysia.

So where does the yee sang we know today come from? No doubt a million people in at least two countries. Malaysia and Singapore, have been asking that. I just had to satisfy our need for an answer. After all, my father is Malaysian while my mother is Singaporean, and of Chinese descent to boot.

So I began asking… My Chinese grandmother in Singapore had dismissed it, as she is one of the few northerners among Sino-descendants in Southeast Asia; (“We northerners are nobles, different from southerners”). Okay but that in fact said something; at least I knew yee sang was definitely NOT of northern Chinese origin. So I headed south.

Southern China’s Guangdong province was the one place where a few people knew of yee sang (and where I could speak the Cantonese dialect!). Good, especially in Hong Kong with its more worldly restaurants. But surprise, surprise; many of those who knew it said it’s a modern import from Malaysia-Singapore! Back to square one.

Sure, maybe the modern version of yee sang as we know it really IS from Southeast Asia. But maybe there were roots, some earlier version of it hidden in a corner of China somewhere? I made some last tries and trials in the name of food. Finally a Mr. Cheng said that some communities of coastal southern China do have a raw fish type of dish. Where exactly?

The southeastern Chinese cities of Chaozhou and Shantou are located in the northeastern part of the province of Guangdong (Canton in English). Yet the people in this locality are NOT ethno-linguistically Cantonese. A localised pronunciation of Chaozhou is in fact Teochew, and that’s where some clues start to appear on where a raw fish dish originated.

Before that, let’s go further back in Chinese history and mythology. It is said that the goddess Nuwa (or Nuwo) created man from clay and mud on the 7^th day in the first month of the year.

Thus on the 7^th day of Chinese New Year people would celebrate Renri or the People’s birthday with a dish of raw meat called kuài (膾). I suppose raw meat was symbolic of the early naked humankind. Eventually raw fish became preferred, possibly because fish is an abundant creature of the waters from where mythology equates with life, as well as practically for the coastal Chinese such as in Chanzhou area and Guangdong as a whole the region was rich in seafood. What better way for them to celebrate than with their abundant raw fish symbolizing this birth of life.

Queries seem to show that the dish was more popular in the Teochew people’s Chaoshan region that must have also been spread to or shared with the coastal Cantonese in Guangdong province as a whole, especially in the port city of Jiangmen further south.

Shantou is the bigger sister port downriver from Chaozhou city; combined they make the Chaoshan region. Shantou city is also prominent in 19^th century Chinese history. It was then called Swatow, one of the ‘treaty ports’ that the colonial West used to exploit China, and was ceded to British concession in 1858. That was an Age of Turmoil in Chinese history. Meanwhile just a year earlier Kuala Lumpur had been opened by Raja Abdullah; and with its rich tin mines it began an immigration pull factor in which one of the results later became… yee sang in Malaysia. How?

Throughout the early mid-19^th to the early 20^th centuries China was facing its Age of Turmoil, especially in coastal China with the meddling of Western powers, the Opium Wars, rebellions and conflicts. Certainly turmoil did not escape Guangdong, including Chanzhou prefecture and to the Teochew and Cantonese in that era.

And so, like many other southern Chinese regional and dialect groups such as the Hokkiens, Hakkas and Hainanese, the Teochews and Cantonese migrated in significant numbers to the relatively peaceful and abundant lands of the Nanyang or the Southern Ocean, where Southeast Asia was located. One of the main ports of transshipment and departure to the Nanyang was Guangdong province’s port of Jiangmen, which gives another clue to Malaysia-Singapore’s yee sang origins.

The Teochews spread to Siam, the Malay Peninsula’s Penang and Johor states and Singapore next door as well as parts of Indonesia such as in Pontianak and Ketapang. Johor Bahru was even nicknamed “Little Swatow” because so many Teochews congregated there.The other group with raw fish dish cultural memories, the Cantonese, settled largely in the Malay Peninsula’s west coast and a few in Singapore. With that we begin to see a commonality and pattern of why yee sang came up in Malaysia-Singapore and not, say, in Thailand or Indonesia as well.

The Chinese as a whole brought with them their ancestral culture including beliefs, dialects, lifestyle and of course, cuisine. In the earlier years their aim was to make money and bring it back to China; culture was not a main concern. But as Chinese numbers increased and life in Southeast Asia was good; people began to stay permanently and raise families; and so culture began to be more and more practiced.

By after World War II, some Teochew and Cantonese families in Malaya (especially on the west coast down to some Johor Teochews; Singapore geographically included) began reviving the ancestral cultural memories of a raw fish dish that was eaten together at the meal table over Chinese New Year, especially on the 7^th day in honour of the goddess Nuwa and the human birthday Renri. [For this part onward of my research I thank the kind older Chinese residents in Subang Jaya where my parents live for sharing their yee sang reminiscences.]

Let’s take a look at the yee sang name, which helps give further clues as to how it came about. The dish was mainly raw fish. Vegetables were somewhat limited then using only carrot and turnip mixed with some oil, vinegar and a sweetener such as even sugar.

That was how the name yee sang or the official version yú shēng (鱼生) meaning “fish basic-life” or figuratively “raw fish” came into being in the first place. The word “fish” (鱼) is commonly associated with its homonym "abundance" (余). Thus yú shēng (鱼生) is correlated as a homophone sound for yu sheng (余升) meaning “abundance increasing".

By comparison it could not be, say, from the Hakka because in their dialect it would be “ng sang” (ng for fish) and what’s more “ng” is considered a bad omen. Definitely not an auspicious dish to start the Chinese New Year! So we must go back to the Teochews and Cantonese.

To a certain extent the raw fish and raw vegetables as ingredients were also dictated by practical considerations in the early days. By the end of the first week of Chinese New Year, the huge amount of food prepared before the celebrations would be only leftovers. Yet households were too tired to cook more sophisticated dishes.

Meanwhile leftover fish and vegetables that had been kept, needed to be consumed soon. The fish, while still fresh, would have softened by then and would be tasty just raw. That’s what happened with the Melanau fishermen’s umai dish, which is fish stripped up and eaten raw cured just with lime juice after a few days still at sea.

Whatever vegetables that were available in the kitchen would start to look less fresh too. So, in the same vein as the Malay kerabu dishes, just cut and chop up all your vegetables in strips so it would look fresh and fine, while any of the veggie parts turning bad can be cut away and discarded.

There are also personal anecdotes of stalls in Malaya selling yee sang-type raw fish mixes as side dishes meant to be shared with “Teochew moi” (Teochew-style porridge), and that the stall-holders had come via the Cantonese port of Jiangmen.

This mix of strips of raw fish and whatever shredded vegetables plus really anything else you like from noodles to crackers to sauces gave rise to another opportunity for auspiciousness. It’s something that is quite uniquely Cantonese; “lo hei” (撈起 or 捞起 in Cantonese). The “lo hei” activity mixes the words and homophone meanings for mix, toss and rise or high as everyone around the table merrily joins in. What a perfect combo of action and expression for a mix of “raising prosperity, abundance and happiness” for everyone present as they’re mixing and tossing the ingredients together.

Older people remember that this yee sang dish and the accompanying “lo hei” custom began spreading through Cantonese and Teochew households up and down Peninsular Malaya’s west coast for Chinese New Year.

Ever enterprising, the Cantonese began offering yee sang in restaurants for Chinese New Year menus from the 1950s. It was not as common or as elaborate as it is now. But it was found in places where there were concentrations of Cantonese, Teochews or any Chinese business activities, including in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and southwards but not so much north and none on the east coast.

Yee sang was available in food outlets only after the Chinese New Year holidays, usually the 7^th day, when restaurants reopened and the dish became a starter at business meals for “patrons to raise good luck for the forthcoming year”. In the 1950s branding was still not a huge thing for restaurants and dishes, so no-one bothered to brand or even record these for posterity. Besides, it was still very much a family and business partners’ specialty dish kind of item.

But something happened in 1952 that began to bring yee sang into the culinary awareness in Malaya. In that year, UMNO and MCA formed the Alliance to contest the Kuala Lumpur Municipal Council elections in February, which they won. Note that it was just around the corner of the Chinese New Year season.

What better way for Alliance partners to celebrate over an auspicious shared meal!

For Malays, yee sang was fine as it’s perfectly halal, being fish and vegetables, while Malay and Melanau fishermen for example were no strangers to lime-cured raw fish (dipped in sambal of course). And any possible misgivings about it being a “Chinese” food never arose, as the Malays simply saw it as a form of their own traditional kerabu salad dish that was just mixed with any keropok or whatever you wanted, and tossed up together in the spirit of muhibbah in the new year. Yee sang was thus also “kerabu tahun baru”, if you please.

After all, the symbolisms of mixing and raising the ingredients for prosperity and sharing the food for harmony are happily universal. (A similar concept applied with the Malay “nasi talam” where wedding guests share four to a large plate or tray called talam.)

From then on, yee sang became a popular Malayan / Malaysian staple each Chinese New Year with more ingredients added or variegated according to the restaurant or chef, or even the matriarch at family gatherings as well as politicians at coalition meal meetings.

Meanwhile Singapore puts its earliest commercially available yee sang in 1964, while it was still part of Malaysia, with the collaboration of four restaurant cooks. That’s perfectly fine, true and correct for Singapore.

For Malaysia, the Malaysians tossed yee sang up earlier. LO HEI!!

[This article was researched for and first appeared in Friedchillies.com under Gastropology 101 on food history in 2010]  
http://www.friedchillies.com/articles/category/gastropology-101 

TV shoot for my interview on #CapitalTV 2015 Chinese New Year special show on the #YeeSang research I did for #Friedchillies.com — at China Treasures, Sime Darby Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur

Melayu Orang Asli

Many Malays don't know that they have various Orang Asli blood in their ancestry. I know and I am proud of my Semai roots. The Semai are a tribe of the Senoi sub-group, one of three aboriginal sub-groups in the Malay Peninsula, the others being the Negrito and Melayu Asli (Aboriginal or Pure Malay). The fact that we all still distinctively exist in Malaysia right into the 21st century shows how peaceful our land and the people are.

Here I'm with my ancient cousin Woh up in the Brinchang Highlands (our original name for the Cameron Highlands - "berincang" means 'very windy' ;-) and later at night I'll wear my own cawat loin-cloth and we'll reminisce our oral stories of the ancient antediluvian Benua Mu that are part of pre-historic Malayan folklore - the lost Continent of Mu that sank in the Great Floods and gave rise to the legend of Atlantis. Ah, we Malays, Orang Asli and Bumiputra or Pribumi (in Indonesia) folk have many forgotten stories.

Hari Raya – A Guide for the Unsure

By A. Najib Ariffin - Nadge –

“...Hari Raya, which is the Muslim New Year... ”, Oops! Have you heard anyone say something like that, or do you yourself think Hari Raya is the Muslim New Year? Well, it is not - but that was what one Malaysian speaker mentioned while addressing a public function some time ago. Granted, the person was not Muslim but having heard that, this is a good chance to explain a few things about “puasa” and “Hari Raya” (“literally the “Great Day”) for the better understanding of our multi-cultural society.

Hari Raya in relation to the puasa (Malay word for “fasting”) in the month of Ramadhan is the celebration to mark the fulfillment of the month's fasting, which is an obligatory part of Islamic faith. Thus it is sometimes half-jokingly said that any Muslim who does not puasa doesn't have the right to celebrate Hari Raya. Also it is clear that it is NOT the Muslim New Year, which by the way is another holiday, Awal Muharram (Muharram being the first month in the Islamic calendar).

Delicious "Kuih raya" or festive cookies of many kinds sold at the ubiquitous Bazaar Ramadhan around Malaysia, to be served to guests at Hari Raya season when people visit each other, a tradition called  'Rumah Terbuka' (Open House).

It is pertinent to note that the Ramadhan fasting and the celebration at its completion are not just a Malaysian or Melayu Muslim affair. The whole Muslim Ummah (“Umat” in Malay or roughly “the community”) all over the world performs the same fasting and celebrates it at the end. In Arabic, Hari Raya Puasa is the 'Eid or “'Eid-ul-Fitr” and this is Malaysianised in spelling as “Aidil Fitri” (or "Idul Fitri" in Indonesia).

Meanwhile the other Hari Raya is for the Hajj, or “Hari Raya Haji” and also called “Hari Raya Kurban”, because it marks both the annual Pilgrimage for pilgrims to holy Makkah (Mecca) in Saudi Arabia as well as commemorating the symbolic sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) on his son Ismail (Ishmael). Kurban means “sacrifice” and at this feast domestic animals are sacrificed or properly slaughtered for their meat to be distributed, especially to the poor.

Back to the puasa itself. The fasting practically and physically means not eating, drinking (not even a drop of water) or engaging in sexual activities during the fast. The actual time of fasting is the entire daytime. This is from when the first indication of light is visible in the horizon (note that this is before actual sunrise as the light appears before the sun itself) and ends exactly at sunset. Both times are marked by the “azan” (or the “bang” in colloquial Malay) i.e. the calls to prayer at Subuh pre-sunrise and then at Maghrib sunset.

Some people also wonder about the annually 'changing' times of Ramadhan and Hari Raya, which don't coincide with the standard solar or Western calendar. This is because they follow the Islamic calendar that observes the cycle of the moon, similar to the Chinese calendar. There are 12 months in the Islamic calendar but they follow the shorter moon cycle, as the lunar month is less than the solar 30 or 31 days in a month. Thus on average the Islamic year is shorter than the solar year by roughly 11-odd days.

This means that the Islamic months, such as Ramadhan, slowly 'move' earlier each year throughout the solar years. Actually both the sun and moon are not exactly regular in their relative movements with the earth and that is why there are 'leap years' in the solar calendar, while in the Muslim calendar the actual observation of the moon is made, to visually sight the new crescent moon that marks the fasting and then Hari Raya.

Selamat Hari Raya Puasa!

It's Thaipusam - so I'll post something 1Malaysia

Thaipusam is a well-known Hindu festival that’s freely celebrated in Malaysia and reflects the diversity and harmony of this great country.

Stories abound on the history of Thaipusam, so here're some that I've learned from Hindu friends and my own reading... The festival is said to commemorate both the birthday of Lord Murugan (or Muruga and also known as Lord Subramaniam), the youngest son of Lord Shiva and Parvathi, and the occasion when Parvathi - a powerful goddess in her own right - gave Murugan a vel (lance) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman and his large army which were plaguing the world.

Thaipusam also coincides with a full moon day in the auspicious 10th Tamil month of Thai when the constellation of Pusam, the star of wellbeing, rises over the eastern horizon.

In Kuala Lumpur, the festival is celebrated on a mammoth scale at the Batu Caves temple on the city's northern outskirts. It began in 1892, started by early Tamils who migrated to colonial Malaya. Reportedly two of them climbed up the ancient limestone hill known as Gua Batu (Batu Caves) to the local Malay and Orang Asli aboriginals, and planted the vel in the cave. Made of metal and shaped like a lance, the vel symbolises Murugan the protector.

The huge Batu cave interior, the size of a soccer field and more, now houses several Hindu temples or shrines, with a special one dedicated to Lord Murugan. The huge cave is even likened to a natural cathedral space.

Batu Caves, especially during Thaipusam, are included and marked on the “Must-See List” for tourists in most literature about unique things to visit in Malaysia. Tourists always remark positively how amazing that a Hindu temple complex harmoniously occupies a major caves system in Islamic-majority Malaysia.

To many Hindus, Thaipusam is the day of thanksgiving or atonement for wrongs. To this end, a structure called kavadi (translated as “burden”), some simple and some spectacular, are often carried or pulled by the devotees with chains and ropes anchored in the skin of their backs or chests. Over the years, curious Western medical experts have speculated that the white ash smeared on the body, the juice squeezed from the yellow lime fruit and the milk poured on the pierced areas may help to numb the skin. The more extreme kavadi practices have been cautioned by some as dangerous and even contrary to the spirit and requirements of Hinduism.

This festival attracts over a million people each year at the by-now famous Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur, the grounds of which presently house various Hindu temples and shrines, as well as the 42.7meter high statue of Lord Murugan that was unveiled in January 2006. As the caves are high up, just as traditionally the abode of Muruga is a hill or mountain, pilgrims and visitors need to climb a whopping 272 steps to reach the mouth of the caves.

Thaipusam has since evolved and grown so greatly in Malaysia that it has now far outsized similar celebrations even in India. For example, during Visit Malaysia Year 2007, the Thaipusam celebration was the biggest yet with an estimate of some 1.5 million devotees and tourists converging at Batu Caves, with possibly more than 10,000 kavadi bearers.

A fireworks display lit up the Thaipusam eve skies. 40 cultural shows were held on the day itself. More than 550 stalls offering everything from prayer items to food to clothes added to the festivities enjoyed by Malaysians.

Annually, celebrations commence with a procession on the eve of Thaipusam from the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown district (Maha Mariamman is also another name for Parvathi, Murugan's mother). A five-ton silver chariot bearing Lord Murugan’s image followed by a procession of several thousand people in its wake makes a 13-km trek to Batu Caves. Upon the chariot’s arrival, devotees will carry Lord Murugan’s idol up the 272 steps to the temple cave, an ascent of about 56m or 185 feet from the base.

Throughout its history, the chariot has been pulled by up to six pairs of bulls. But in 2000, the organisers responded to allegations of animal abuse, by switching to a motorised vehicle. Meanwhile, drumbeats make trance-inducing rhythms and long wooden pipes, known as nathaswaram, croon devotional tunes in a loud festive atmosphere.

Thaipusam is of course celebrated all over Malaysia. In Penang, more than 600,000 people including foreign tourists made their way to the Arulmigu Balathandayuthabani temple in Jalan Kebun Bunga. The Thaipusam festival is also a mainstay in Penang's event calendar. The temple management and several factories and associations set-up 110 stalls along Jalan Utama to offer food and drinks. More than 1,000 kavadis of various sizes and colours were carried by devotees up the 248 steps to the top of the temple as an act of seeking blessings.

The festivities in Penang have evolved to the extent that they assimilate distinctly local characteristics. This year’s celebrations drew a cosmopolitan following of many non-Indians. One group of Chinese devotees was seen pulling a small chariot of Kuan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy. Another group had actually prepared an ornate chariot replete with giant images of Hindu gods such as Shiva and Kali accompanied by the serene image of Kuan Yin.

Penang’s yearly Thaipusam chariot procession has been held since 1857 (coincidentally the year Kuala Lumpur was founded under the auspices of Raja Abdullah in Selangor). A wooden chariot was used for the first 37 years until the silver chariot was brought from India to Penang in 1894.

Devotees who undertake a vow observe a strict vegetarian fast or viratham, consuming only water and pure Satvik food once a day for about 40 days. They observe celibacy and renounce all forms of comfort and pleasurable activities. The 40 days of purification are spent in meditation and prayer.

Among the vows taken are through carrying the kavadi or pal kodum (milk containers), breaking of coconuts or shaving one's head bald. They would then carry out their vows clad in yellow and saffron, clean-shaven heads smeared with sandalwood paste. Fire walking and self-flagellation may also be practiced.

The most spectacular practice is the vel kavadi, essentially a portable altar up to two meters tall, decorated with peacock plumes and attached to the devotee through 108 vels pierced into the skin on the chest and back. Many others pierce their tongue and cheek to impede speech and thereby attain full concentration on the Lord. Most devotees enter into a trance at such piercing due to the incessant drumming and chanting of "vel vel shakti vel.”

The kavadi itself is steeped in ancient mythology. At Mount Kailas, Lord Shiva entrusted the dwarf saint sage Agastya with two hillocks, with instructions to carry and install them in South India. But the sage left them in a forest and later asked his disciple, Idumban to get them. Idumban found the two hillocks, but could not initially lift them, until he obtained divine help. Near Palani in South India – where to this day there is a famous shrine of Murugan - Idumban put the hillocks down to rest awhile. When he attempted to continue his journey, he found that the hillocks were immovable.

Idumban sought the help of a scantily dressed youth, but the youth claimed the hillocks belonged to him. In the ensuing scuffle, Idumban was defeated. He then realised that the youth was Lord Murugan in disguise. Idumban pleaded to be pardoned and asked that anyone who comes to the hills to worship Murugan with an object similar to the two hillocks suspended by a rod, may be granted his wishes. And so the kavadi came to play its role in Hindu festivals such as Thaipusam in 1Malaysia.

A Nightmare On Elm Street [2010]

"Mimpi Ngeri Di Jalan Elm"

Have you ever really had a nightmare? A real mimpi ngeri? (The meaning is even better in Bahasa Melayu as the Malay designation is literally “horror dream”)

To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever had a real nightmare. In fact I sleep so soundly I hardly dream… And when I do dream my idea of a horror dream, or at least a bad one, is if it doesn’t involve any kind of wild and kinky sex with Sci-Fi characters. [Okay I think this review is meant for age 21 and above.]

So I really pity those kids who have A Nightmare on Elm Street – sleep and you dream, then you die... ayoyo!

Actually the original movie of the same name first terrified audiences – and maybe even kept some awake - in 1984. That’s over 26 years ago! Hmm I think most of those who watched the 2010 version with me today weren’t even born then…

Anyway, despite meagre advertising, that film managed to make nearly 25 times its production budget in ticket sales. It relied almost completely on word-of-mouth promotion. See how powerful word-of-mouth is!

Then after being released on video to a wider audience, A Nightmare on Elm Street gained a surprising cult following that survived all these decades, dragging the razor-fingered dude Freddy Krueger to cult status with it… All the way to 7 more films in the franchise, including Wes Craven's New Nightmare and the tie-in release Freddy Vs. Jason with that other, masked, horror guy in Halloween. Meanwhile this Freddy Krueger character has become a branded horror icon, “idolized with fear” by fans or at least recognised by film-goers everywhere. His trademark striped sweater and knifey hands are by now symbols of horror-movie greatness.

Having watched the earlier series of Nightmares on Elm Street, the immediate thing I like about this 2010 version is that it has a tighter plot, despite some twists here and there that actually add to the story-telling. The earlier ones with Freddy’s mother Amanda Krueger thrown in (a Nun, of all people!) didn’t quite convince me with its tale. The new version is more plausible, and gives a lesson in how to react in grave situations as well, re: the kids’ parents’ reactions to Freddy at the Pre-School.

Nonetheless I feel that the dialogue could have more forcefully explained certain points. For example, you sort of have to flesh out yourself why Freddy is innocent OR guilty and why is he dream-haunting those poor kids, as the near one-line mentions are almost dismissable, even missable. [I think I just coined some phrases here; “dream-haunting”…]

Still, I couldn’t find any immediate boo-boos or loopholes in this version’s story (yet :-), in the way that I did with Iron Man 2 where they were as big as the atrium at GSC Mid-Valley’s South Court!

On this Nightmare’s acting and actors, I know some would agree with me that we’d prefer Kellan Lutz as the main protagonist who is “saved” at the end (we’re prejudiced because of his Twilight appearance!). Instead he’s the first to be killed off here, and eekily too. Eeek!

I put “saved” above in quote marks because the ending is hmm… in the sequel?