Indians In Malaysia To Celebrate 'Pongal' On Sunday

KISHO KUMARI SUCEDARAM KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- Indians in Malaysia are gearing up for Pongal celebrations on Sunday, Jan 15. It is celebrated during the 10th month of the Tamil calendar to mark the harvest of crops from the fields and to offer thanks to mother earth, the sun and God for a bountiful harvest. Malaysia Hindu Sangam president R.S. Mohan Shan said Pongal is celebrated worldwide by Indians who symbolise the festival by boiling rice from freshly harvested paddy with milk and brown sugar in a new clay pot until it 'boils over', which is the literal meaning of the word Pongal in Tamil. Witnessing the boiling over is considered good luck and would bring prosperity to the household, he added. "We also believe that if the milk spills north, it's good fortune for the whole year," he told Bernama. He noted that the festival has now become a celebration for everyone in the country as Malays and Chinese also came together on the day. "For us in Malaysia, it is a celebration for everyone, even ministers, politicians and non-governmental organisations join us in celebrating the festival," he said. Mohan Shan said several members of parliament provided allocations for Indians to organise events for the festival, which he felt brought unity among the people under the 1Malaysia concept introduced by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. An Indian culture lover Kenneth Lee Tze Wui, 27, said that he owned a Pongal pot with attractive designs on it. "One day I went for lunch at the Seremban Indian street with my friends and passed by a grocery shop selling an assortment of Pongal pots, I told myself, 'I just have to have it'," he said. "It's simply beautiful," said the lecturer at a local university. Whereas, Ali Imran Mohd Noordin, 30, a civil servant said that Pongal could be one of the many festivals in Malaysia that could unite the people as one community regardless of race, culture and religion. "It's because the harvest festival is a celebration of togetherness, hardwork and persistence. Besides, there are also other ethnic groups that celebrate such festivals in Sabah and Sarawak," he said. Nirmala Suppiah, 29, an executive, explained that families did spring cleaning before the auspicious day and conducted prayers before 10am on the day itself. Houses are decorated with sugar cane and strings of fresh mango leaves at doorways, she said. "Other than that 'kolam' (patterns drawn on the floor) is also a must on that particular day... we use new clay pots and cook on a new stove, usually outside the house, facing the sun. "However, people in Malaysia normally celebrate among family, unlike in India where Pongal is an important festival, especially in Tamil Nadu as much of the state relies on agriculture," she said. A Sarawakian, Jalita Seman, 29, said this was an occasion for her to savour the various Indian sweets she liked. "Furthermore, I love to see families celebrating the day in a spirit of joy and hope," she said. -- BERNAMA