Kavadi Beachwalk Uruguay

Truth Seekers Syndicate Organized a Beachwalk the start of februari,2009, in Solymar Uruguay.

Lord Murga song



On many request i put a video of Murga songs

Kavadiwalk Buenos Aires 2008 / Spanish and English version


Por Ignacio Avellanal
TSS Kavadi Walk.
30-12-2008 - Buenos Aires, Argentina.

08.00 am: Reunión c/Ferg, Kor y Angie en su casa para juntar y llevar todos los materiales necesarios para la caminata.

09.00 am: Llegamos al Bosque Palermo donde comenzamos a planificar el armado de los armazones. Fue una experiencia totalmente diferente el hecho de poder armar nuestros propios frames. Sintiendo poco a poco como se va cargando de energía el frame con el ensamble de cada varilla, cada tornillo, cada tuerca. Luego de ya armados, llegó la hora de probar el peso de cada uno de ellos, los últimos ajustes para poder realizar una buena caminata sin ningun problema.



09.30 am: Con los frames ya colocados, llegó el momento en que las lanzas entraran en acción. Angie ya pronta c/sus guantes, comenzó c/la primer lanza. Las primeras se sintieron muy confortables, cada una adaptándose a mi piel. Las primeras en el pecho, las siguientes en la espalda para poder balancear el peso. A medida que se iba avanzando en la colocación, comencé a sentir una sensación muy particular, muy placentera provinientes de ellas.
Respirando profundamente, sintiendo lanza por lanza sobre el cuerpo, mi cuerpo comenzó a sentir conexión con el medio.
Luego de que Angie colocara todas las lanzas sobre mi cuerpo, se continuó con Ferg y luego Kor. Cada uno a su tiempo, lanza por lanza, poco a poco entrando en 'ese' mundo.



10.15 am: Ya perdiendo la noción del tiempo lineal comenzamos nuestra caminata por el Bosque Palermo.
Diferentes sensaciones sobre nuestros pies descalzos, pedregullo, asfalto caliente y frio, pasto húmedo y seco, tierra, vidrios rotos. Como Angie me comentó, somos un radar de sensaciones de nuestro alrededor. El viento, ramas de arboles, movimientos del cuerpo, cada vibración de nuestro alrededor transmitiendose sobre cada lanza hacia nuestro cuerpo. Sensaciones increibles que te trasladan a un estado sublime.
Con cada paso que daba me acompañanaban un sin fin de sensaciones por todo mi cuerpo, experimentando y explorando en el y en mi mente.
Angie me recordaba que estabamos en el parque cuando se posicionaba al lado nuestro para fotografiarnos, pero sin su precencia estaba en un plano totalmente fuera del común en donde el medio, las lanzas y mi cuerpo eramos un solo elemento.




Luego de haber estado dos horas y minutos caminando, llegó el momento de quitar las lanzas en total silencio y en conexión con nuestro alrededor. Primero Ferg. Kor y yo esperando nuestro momento, respirando profundamente, sintiendo los ultimos minutos de las lanzas sobre nuestros cuerpos.

Cuando llegó el momento de quitar las lanzas, sentí como si me estuvieran arrancando parte de mi cuerpo. Primero fueron algunas del pecho, luego la de los brazos y por ultimo las de la espalda y las restantes del pecho. En estas ultimas me sentí un poco mareado, pero simplemente fue algo momentáneo. Parte de mi se iban con ellas. Respirando profundamente y tomando aire fresco, seguimos con las últimas. Quitamos el frame y fue una sensación fabulosa sentirme tan liviano luego de haber cargado durante dos horas todo ese peso sobre mi.
Me sentí tan liviano luego que me senté sobre el pasto, estiré la espalda, piernas, pecho, brazos...
Estaba en un estado increíble!



Luego que desarmamos todo, volvimos los cuatro a la casa de Kor y Angie para comer algo y compartir lo que habia acontecido.
Fabuloso haber podido compartir esta experiencia con Angie, Ferg y Kor. Muy buena conexión c/los tres.

Fue una experiencia que jamás olvidaré.
Las lanzas valen más que mil palabras.



English version

By Ignacio Avellanal
TSS Kavadi Walk.
30-12-2008 - Buenos Aires, Argentina.

08.00 am: Meeting with Ferg, Kor and Angie in their house, to take all the necessary stuff for the walk.

09.00 am: We arrived at Palermo Park where we started to plan how to build the structures. To experience the building of our own frame was really good. I felt little by little how the frame got charged with energy with every rod, every screw and bolt. After they were ready, came the moment to prove the weight of them and make the last adjustments to do a walk without problems.



09.30 am: With the frames already on our bodies, it was time the spears came into action. Ready with the gloves, Angie started with the first spear. The first ones felt really comfortable, each one adjusting to my skin. They were put on my chest, after on my back, to keep the balance of the weight. While she continued putting the spears I started to feel a particular sensation, very pleasant, coming from the spears. Breathing deeply, feeling every spear over my body, I started to feel a connection with the environment.
After Angie had put all the spears on my body, she continued with Ferg and Kor. Each one of us took its own time, spear by spear, slowly entering into “that” world.



10.15 am: Having already noticed the lost of linear time, we started our walk through Palermo Park.
We felt different sort of sensations under our naked feet, little stones, hot and cold asphalt, wet and dry grass, earth and broken glass. As Angie told me, we are a radar of sensations from what is happening around us. The wind, the branches, the movement of the body, every vibration around us is transmitted through the spears to our body. I felt marvelous sensations which put me in a divine state of being.
With every step I took, a string of sensations came together over my whole body, experimenting and exploring through mind and body.
Angie reminded me that we were in the park when she came next to me to take a photo; without her presence, I was in a total state of mind out of common, where the environment, the spears and my body were only one element.

After we had walked 2 hours and a little bit, came the moment to take the spears out. This was made in complete silence and in connection with everything around us. First Ferg, Kor and I had to wait till our moment. With deep breathing, we were feeling the last minutes of the spears over our bodies.



When the moment came, I felt like each one took a part out of my body. First, the spears from the chest were out, then from the arms and back and the last ones from the chest. I felt a little dizzy with the last spears, but it was just for a moment. Breathing deep and taking fresh air, we continued. A part of me went away with them. We took out the frame and it was great. I felt light again after carrying for more than 2 hours all that weight on me. I felt so light, I sit down on the grass, stretched my back, legs, chest and arms.
I was in an incredible state of mind!



Alter everything was disarmed, we went back to Kor and Angie’s house to eat and drink something together and share our experiences.
It was a great opportunity to share this experience with them. We have established a good connection.

It was an experience that I will never forget.
Spears worth more than a thousand words.

Thaipusam Malaysia 2009



By Varsha Tickoo

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Malaysian Hindus celebrated the festival of Thaipusam on Sunday, seeking divine blessings with offerings ranging from piercing their bodies with hooks and spears to the more mundane ones of flowers and milk.

Chanting and dancing devotees rubbed shoulders with tourists in offering prayers to Lord Murugan at Batu Caves, a prominent Hindu site near the Malaysian capital, while police and first aid workers kept an eye on the festivities.

Thaipusam came to Malaysia through immigrant Indians, who migrated to the Southeast Asian country in the late nineteenth century, mostly to work on rubber plantations.



On Sunday, men and women cleansed themselves by shaving their heads and taking a dip in a nearby river, and smeared their bare heads with sandalwood and ash before proceeding in a broad line to the temple in the caves.

Camera-toting tourists mingled with the crowd for a glimpse of the Hindu tradition that has all but disappeared from India.

"I'm just amazed, it is really unique the music, the parade ... I have never seen anything like this in my country," said 21-year old Hye Eun, a Korean tourist.

Men with ash-smeared torsos and hooks hung with lemons, oranges or apples digging into the skin on their backs were dancing in tradition Indian costumes under what locals said was a trance induced by prayer and incense.




Other devotees had spears piercing their cheeks and tongues, while some carried floats decorated with peacock feathers and gold tassels secured around their waists, all the while chanting Hindu mantras.

The devotees' final destination was the temple at the top of the hill that houses Batu Caves, where they took off the hooks and spears after praying to the Hindu god.



Thaipusam, a public holiday in several Malaysian states, was first practiced in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where most of Malaysia's ethnic Indians can trace their origin.

The festival is not widely celebrated in mostly-Hindu India anymore, but is alive in Malaysia where locals say they have been celebrating it for generations.

Ethnic Indians form nearly 7 percent of Malaysia's 27 million strong population.


Thaipusam 2009

Thaipusam celebrations
Penang 8 februari
Singapore 8 februari



Photo by H.C. Jones during Thaipusam Singapore.