Blessing Of Pets: Story and pictures by Sivaraman Kannan (top) Children dancing to the beat (bottom)
More than 150 people - many of them people with disabilities - gathered at Petpositive's Deepavali Party on Dec 2 last month. The event was sponsored by the Hanuman Temple of Brickfields in Jalan Scott in Brickfields Kuala Lumpur and held at the same venue.
The three-hour event which began at 3pm included a private pet blessing ceremony which two members took part. The pets that were blessed by the temple priests was a cat called Putri and Soolam the Golden Retriever.
Both disabled persons who also took part in the blessing where wheelchair users with spina bifida.
The temple representative who organised the event for Petpositive was Suresh Maniam who is also the temple's treasurer.
The following is the testimony of Mr Sivaraman Kannan, a Petpositive member and Vice President of the Malaysian Parkinson Disease Association who was present at the party.
The pictures in this Blog are also provided by him.
(The clown enthralled the children (top) whilst paraplegic S Jeyaraj (bottom) went horse-riding for the first time.)
"Many years ago I witnessed cows being blessed in Tamil Nadu, India during the Ponggal Festival.
This was indeed carried out in a grand scale and the cows were decorated with flower garlands, sandle wood paste and vermilion powder and the festive atmosphere was in the air. I was momentarily transported back to India when Ms. Sara Lew and I drove up Scott road last month on a Sunday afternoon.
Malaysian Parkinson’s Disease Association had an invitation from Mr. Anthony Thanasayan to join the Petpositive Association Members in a ceremony to bless their pets on 2nd December 2007 at the Hanuman Temple in Scott Road, Kuala Lumpur.
Not knowing what to expect, Sara and I were pleasantly surprised when we turned the corner and saw the set up. There was this long gaily decorated tent on the road side and the loud pop music and the DJ blaring away. All the the people there had transformed the quiet Scott Road to a carnival centre!
There were two horses for joy rides for the participants. Not only were the children excited to see the horses and wait for a ride, even Anthony’s dog, Soolam, was very eager to see the horses.
Most of the time I have seen his dog it was quiet and always at his side. This time the dog was very frisky and practically pleading with Anthony to go nearer to the horses. What difference is there in the inquisitiveness of this dog and that of a young child? The horses and their handlers were kept busy with the joy rides.
There was ample food and drinks and the DJ was at his max performance in getting the children to the dance floor. The pop music made the crowd lively.
The lively dance to the pop music by the two wheelchair bound members drew a very loud round of applause from the crowd. Most of the participants were from the various disabled groups and took this opportunity to forget their shortcoming and enjoy themselves.
The smiles on their faces and the joy of the crowd was heart warming indeed.
Those people with limited faculties really appreciate the benefits of pets in their daily lives and the pets to them is a blessing and blessing their pets is the least we can do. We reluctantly had to leave early as I have to reach home before dark because of my eye problem.
Thank you, Anthony and your team, for the wonderful afternoon."
Engineer Sivaraman Kannan
The three-hour event which began at 3pm included a private pet blessing ceremony which two members took part. The pets that were blessed by the temple priests was a cat called Putri and Soolam the Golden Retriever.
Both disabled persons who also took part in the blessing where wheelchair users with spina bifida.
The temple representative who organised the event for Petpositive was Suresh Maniam who is also the temple's treasurer.
The following is the testimony of Mr Sivaraman Kannan, a Petpositive member and Vice President of the Malaysian Parkinson Disease Association who was present at the party.
The pictures in this Blog are also provided by him.
(The clown enthralled the children (top) whilst paraplegic S Jeyaraj (bottom) went horse-riding for the first time.)
"Many years ago I witnessed cows being blessed in Tamil Nadu, India during the Ponggal Festival.
This was indeed carried out in a grand scale and the cows were decorated with flower garlands, sandle wood paste and vermilion powder and the festive atmosphere was in the air. I was momentarily transported back to India when Ms. Sara Lew and I drove up Scott road last month on a Sunday afternoon.
Malaysian Parkinson’s Disease Association had an invitation from Mr. Anthony Thanasayan to join the Petpositive Association Members in a ceremony to bless their pets on 2nd December 2007 at the Hanuman Temple in Scott Road, Kuala Lumpur.
Not knowing what to expect, Sara and I were pleasantly surprised when we turned the corner and saw the set up. There was this long gaily decorated tent on the road side and the loud pop music and the DJ blaring away. All the the people there had transformed the quiet Scott Road to a carnival centre!
There were two horses for joy rides for the participants. Not only were the children excited to see the horses and wait for a ride, even Anthony’s dog, Soolam, was very eager to see the horses.
Most of the time I have seen his dog it was quiet and always at his side. This time the dog was very frisky and practically pleading with Anthony to go nearer to the horses. What difference is there in the inquisitiveness of this dog and that of a young child? The horses and their handlers were kept busy with the joy rides.
There was ample food and drinks and the DJ was at his max performance in getting the children to the dance floor. The pop music made the crowd lively.
The lively dance to the pop music by the two wheelchair bound members drew a very loud round of applause from the crowd. Most of the participants were from the various disabled groups and took this opportunity to forget their shortcoming and enjoy themselves.
The smiles on their faces and the joy of the crowd was heart warming indeed.
Those people with limited faculties really appreciate the benefits of pets in their daily lives and the pets to them is a blessing and blessing their pets is the least we can do. We reluctantly had to leave early as I have to reach home before dark because of my eye problem.
Thank you, Anthony and your team, for the wonderful afternoon."
Engineer Sivaraman Kannan
