LEADING THE DEVOTEES: Selvaraj (second left) leading the devotees in giving offering to Lord Murugan.
MIRI: Miri Hindu Society joined their counterparts worldwide in celebrating Thaipusam at the Kamini Durga Easwari Amman premises at Raghavan Building in Brooke Road here recently.
They started the celebration with a procession at 6pm with 35 of them carrying a pot of milk each which they later used to bathe Lord Murugan, followed by prayers.
MILK FOR BATHING: Devotees carry milk for bathing Lord Murugan.
Their chairman Selvaraj Grapragasem said he was happy to see more than 80 Hindus at the prayer session although it was a working day.
He, however, lamented the difficulty they had to face because of the overcrowding due to the small space.
“Luckily, the weather was fine. If it rained the devotees would surely be all wet because the crowd has swelled to more than 100 later in the evening.”
He said the society was hoping to acquire a piece of land from the government to build a temple.
“In fact, we have been asking for a piece of land (from the state govt) since the 80s. There is no Hindu temple in Miri thus far. The present premises was given to us by a philanthropist about 10 years ago,” he said.
Selvaraj also thanked Minister of Energy, Green Technology Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui, Assistant Minister of Communication Datuk Lee Kim Shin, and other leaders for their support to the about 5,00-strong Hindu community here all these years.
He, meanwhile, reminded members to attend their annual general meeting on Feb 17, starting 8.30pm, after which the installation of office bearers for the new term would be held.
For further details kindly contact Selvaraj himself at 013-8139695,Teeban Rao (012-3366552), or Siva at 016-5212153.