Divine prediction... Fire Watching at Penang Ban Ka Lan Snake Temple

Annually, on the 6th day of the Lunar New Year, the Penang Snake Temple host a fire watching ceremony as it is the patron deity Chor Soo Kong's birthday. The festivities start on the night of the 5th day of the Lunar New Year with various cultural performances and devotees will throng the temple to offer prayer to Chor Soo Kong on the eve of his birthday.

Getting them lit... Devotees throng to the Snake Temple to offer joss-sticks and candles on the
eve of Chor Soo Kong's birthday.

Deep in prayer...the never ending flow of devotees that come to pray to Chor Soo Kong on the
eve of his birthday.

As midnight approaches, an entourage will arrive with Taoist priest and a censer burner on a wooden carrier that will be placed in front of the deity on the main altar. After a short ceremony, joss sticks will be lit and passed to the committee members of the temple. These joss-sticks are then collected back after the members have offered their prayers and the tops snapped off and placed into the censer. The celebrant will then start the fanning until the embers burst into flames. The intensity, height and durability of this flame that is used as a prediction of Penang's quarterly economic state. This process will then be repeated two more times to obtain the prediction for the entire year.

When all three flames have been observed, the celebrant adds a sandalwood block and powder, and all present will rush forward to be blessed by the sandalwood smoke from the burner. When all inside have had their 'blessings', the censer and the carrier are taken out of the temple. There will then be other Chor Soo Kong temples who will also come with their censer in a carrier basket and perform the fire watching ceremony, which is usually used to predict their member's or organisation's luck in the coming year (as opposed to the entire state of Penang in the first one).

Flames that predict the economic well-being of Penang... the fire watching ceremony of
Penang Snake Temple.

Coming up - Thaipusam 2017

Coming up is Thaipusam, which falls on 9th Feb 2017 this year.

Vel! Vel! Veeravel! Vel! Vel! Vetrivel!

Son: Mommy, mommy can I eat this?? Mommy, mommy when are we going to see the world? Mommy, mommy...

Mother: Here son... have this (passes a Vel to her son) 
Son: Ooo, magic Vel (spear)!
Mother: Yes dear, now go play outside, don't make a mess in here... 
Son: Can I go play (beat up) with the (bad) kid next door, Soorapadman? Please, please?
Mother: Ughhh... just play nice, OK?
Son: Okay Mommy (YES! I am so gonna split him in half)

Scenes from Kashmir - Row row row your boat...

The ladies around Lake Dal, Srinagar must have strong arms as boats are a daily means of commute for their children to and from school. This lady is no different and by the way she deftly controls the raft through the narrow canals is more than a clear sign that she has done it for years, if not since childhood.

Row, row, row your boat...

Kashmir - of Kangri pots, Pheran cloaks, and the men and women who use them

The use of fire-pots in Indian administered Kashmir is common during the colder months of the year. These wicker basket hand-held braziers are called Kangri (or Kangir/Kanger). Both men and women carry them around, tucked under their long wollen cloaks called Pheran/Phiran.

The Kangri or wicker basket brazier
/ fire-pot.

Wherever the men go, if you see one wearing a wollen pheran, you can bet he has his trustworthy kangri near him or hidden underneath his cloak. Come cold winds and chilly rain or snowfall, the kangri keeps them warm in their walkabouts town or when they are waiting for customers or friends to arrive.

Women carry them too, and that gives an impression, albeit false, that women there are pregnant all the time. In fact the bulge in the belly is the kangri being held underneath their pheran

There are shops where the locals can go and buy hot charcoals for their pots. The man that owns the shop (see pic below) and his wife and family works hard to keep the wood stoked so that he can provide customers with hot charcoal embers when theirs run out.

A Kashmiri men in pheran with his
kangri by the rodside near him
(by the green post).

They are NOT pregnant - they are just keeping their pots
in there. These women in pheran seemed to carry their pots
a little higher that the men do.

No, she is not handicapped and
definitely not pregnant! She is merely
holding the kangri with her right hand.

The water bong and a kangri - all that a
man would need in Kashmir.

The fire-pot man in Pahalgam -
see this post about him: Faces
of Kashmir - The Fire-Pot Man

The women of the family are responsible for the hard work
of bringing in the firewood for the charcoals.

Faces of Kashmir - The Fire-Pot Man

During the colder months in Indian-administered Kashmir, men and women wear long wollen cloaks called Pheran to keep them warm by also carrying their personal charcoal heater in the form a pot in a wicker basket called Kangri. This pot holds about 250grams of charcoal keeps the owner cozy and warm, and also makes Kashmiri women look as if they are pregnant (by virtue of having their hands and pot under their cloak).

In Pahalgam, you go to this man to get your charcoal refill. His wife and him work hard to fill and tamp in your Kangri with charcoal that is available from his shop all day long.

See this post as well regarding the Kangri in Kashmir - of Kangri pots, Pheran cloaks, and the men and women who use them.

Landscapes of India - Kashmir

Kashmir - the Fields and Hills are Alive.... 

The Spirit that Remains.... In Memory of Rev RS Hutchings and the School that He Founded - PFS

Two hundred years ago, the foundation of a school was set up by the Rev Robert Sparke Hutchings (born ?1782- died 1827), who was the chaplain of the Prince of Wales Island then. The school was the Penang Free School, which should be celebrating its 200th years anniversary in 2016.

I managed to visit the grave of Rev R.S. Hutchings at the old Protestant Cemetery at Western Road, Penang in July this year, both to catch a glimpse of his grave and to reminisce the spirit of the school that he founded. 

 

The tablet on Rev. RS Hutchings's grave, the inscription being dedicated by his loving wife,
Elvira Hutchings nee Phillips. Note the error on the tablet, where her name was inscribed
as Elrica Hutchings.

Personally I feel that the school had died in 1993, with the uncalled for meddling on the matters of the school by the people in power. And thus, for me, the school beyond 1993 only existed physically, without the true founding spirit of the school, and hence it never saw its bicentenary celebration this year.

 

May the spirit of Penang Free School lay at peace with its founder, Rev. Robert Sparke Hutchings... RIP.

Misty Morning On the Farm... in Nuwara Eliya

Mooo... on a rainy, misty day, in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka

An evening at Jugra

Sepetang di Jugra... taken with a Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 11mm, f/10,
1/1250s, ISO 640.

Jugra is a small town on the mouth of the Langat River in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A former royal town for the Sultans of Selangor, it is now just a quaint little fishing village that one goes to for seafood or a popular Chinese dish called Beggar's Chicken. In Jugra, most of the seafood restaurants are by the riverside, so you can watch the sun set over the mangroves on the Straits of Malacca and the fishing boats that go by as you enjoy your meal.

View of one of the many jetties in that area.

Good for:

• Quiet seafood meal by the Straits of Malacca
• Relaxed fishing
• Watching the sunset over Carey Island 
• Landscape photography
• Romantic spot for lovey-dovey couples to hang out

Drawbacks:

• Mosquitoes especially in the evening and at night
• Nothing spectacular about the seafood
• Poor cellphone coverage

Puffing Away

Power vaping???? 35mm, f/9, 1/200s, ISO 800

A Newari man in Khokana village on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal smoking a traditional bong/pipe. The village is a living museum, and despite showing damage from the 2015 quake, the people are still living in those traditional houses in the village.

Reflection of Life on Dal Lake

What is Srinagar in Kashmir without Dal Lake? A forlorn, dusty, and tired town. And what is Dal Lake without its human inhabitants? A ring that has lost its jewels, deplete of its gleam and glitter.

The people and their colourful shikaras, with the trinkets and carpets that they sell... they reflect the life and the vitality of the lake; ever moving and ever changing. Just like the pretty clouds that skip over the mountains frame the lake physically, the people of Dal Lake frame and bring out the endearing spirit of the lake.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•