Thursday, January 24, 2008

How many at Bt Caves?

What is the real number of people who visited Batu Caves during Thaipusam this year? The temple committee and SV would swear that it reached millions. Only the gods there will know the truth!

Speaking to various people, one thing is sure - it was definitely less than the 1.2 million they had last year. A fair estimate would be at 500,000. On Thaipusam day itself, only about 100,000 was estimated to be there during the peak period.

Someone told me the kavadi route from the river to the cave took only 40 minutes, and without any stop in the traffic flow. Free food were also cut down it seems, and yet there were much wastage.

On top of this, SV proudly said that the boycott was not effective.

"I have come to Thaipusam since I was 11 years old. I know the crowd. It is the same as before," he told reporters at Batu Caves yesterday.

On the contrary, it seems the Murugan temples elsewhere, especially in Kuala Selangor and Port Klang had more crowd than usual.

The situation in Penang too was very different with regulars talking about a bigger turnout this year.

Looks like the boycott campaign was effective.

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