Ride on Time

Chapter 77

"So this is Batu Caves..." Mitsuo murmured when he walked together with the Malaysian family.
"Yes, and that's the world renown Golden Murugan, also known as Kartikeya," Shree pointed at the giant golden Lord Muruga statue beside the long flight of steps. "Actually, he has a lot of names."
"Oh..." Mitsuo nodded. "Is Padayappa one of them?"
Shree frowned thoughtfully. "Uh..." she turned to her grandmother. "Awah, Padayappa also Murugan name, right?"
"Yes," Devi nodded. "Arumugam, Saravanan, Subramaniam, all his name only."
Shree nodded and turned back to Mitsuo. "Yep, that's him too."
"Yeah, he has a lot of names," Vasu agreed. He smirked and motioned his head towards the long staircase. "But he also has a lot of snatch thieves."
Mitsuo looked at him in surprise. "Snatch thieves?"
Vasu grinned and pulled him closer, pointing towards the trees around the cave temple. There was one clump shaking vigorously and the younger man chuckled. "You see them? Those are the snatch thieves of Batu Caves!"
Mitsuo looked, and to his surprise, a troupe of monkeys leapt out and perched themselves on the railings. He gasped when one of them leapt towards a woman, snatching her prasadam before proceeding to bite into a flower given in it.
"That looks dangerous..." Mitsuo gulped.
"Yeah, that's why you mustn't bring plastic bags," Shree said and took the plastic bag of flowers that Mitsuo helped carry. "You have to bring a cloth bag."
She took the bag from him and stuffed it into a large white tote before handing it back to him.
They went towards the stairs and started going up. Mitsuo was a little concerned for Devi since she insisted on climbing too.
"Obaasan, are you sure you're okay with climbing?" Mitsuo asked. "I thought there was some talk about a cable car, maybe you can ride on that?"
"There's no cable car," Vasu snorted. "That idea was scrapped."
"Oh..." Mitsuo gulped.
"I can climb lah, don't worry," Devi determinedly said. "If pray to Murugan and climb, then can."
The elderly woman handed small packs of pepper kernels to Shree and Vasu.
"What's that for?" Mitsuo asked curiously.
"When people step on this pepper, it's very good for us," Devi said. "You want means..." she reached for another pack and handed it to Mitsuo. "You also put."
Mitsuo had no idea what the significance was, but decided to respect it and do it as well. Devi seemed to have a lot of pepper on her too, seeing how she handed another pack to Chandrika and had one for herself too.
It was as if she had thought of him too when bringing those little packs of peppers. Mitsuo bowed and took the pack, sprinkling it along the way as they went up.
To Mitsuo's surprise, and the siblings' too, Devi practically dragged Chandrika up the steps ahead of them.
"Okay... so we're the ones who are left behind," Shree said, seeing how the two older women were already two flights ahead of them.
"Let's just go," Vasu shrugged and sprinkled some pepper as he went up.
Shree and Mitsuo exchanged glances and followed after the rest.

Mitsuo gripped onto the railing as he finally reached the top. His knees were stinging, his calves were throbbing, but he did it. He climbed up eleven floors.
Eleven floors according to Vasu's calculation, that is.
Devi and Chandrika were already there, sitting by the cave temple.
"So long," Devi complained as soon as she saw the youths appear.
"Awah, we not superhuman lah," Shree panted as she gripped onto the railing as well. "Also, one monkey attacked Vasu just now. It only left after we prayed to Hanuman."
"I was so scared, but it surprisingly worked," Mitsuo added. He turned to Vasu, whose hair was still messed. "You okay, man?"
"Aiyo, okay ah?" Chandrika asked, concern laced in her voice as she went towards her son.
Vasu nodded. "Yeah, okay. I think it was only playing."
"Never mind lah, it's a blessing for you, the monkey never do anything, what," Devi grinned before switching to Tamil. "Fix your hair, you look like a jungle man!"
Vasu clicked his tongue and attempted to smoothen his tousled hair back in place.
"What did she say?" Mitsuo turned to Shree, not understanding the Tamil comment.
"She asked Vasu to fix his hair," Shree translated.
"Maybe the monkey jumped on him, thinking that he's one of them too!" Devi laughed again.
"What was that?" Mitsuo asked.
"Umm..." Shree didn't know what to say but noticed Vasu glaring at her. "Yeah, it was nothing."
Mitsuo didn't question it any further as he followed the rest into the temple. To Mitsuo's dismay, he had to climb up more steps, and some of them looked in pretty bad shape. And it was slippery too.
Again, he was more concerned for the old woman rather than himself.
"Obaasan, be careful. The steps are quite slippery."
Devi smiled and clung onto Chandrika as she climbed. Her daughter looked like she was having difficulty since she was carrying what looked like a stainless steel pot so he decided to jump in and help her instead.
"Mitsuo, it's okay," Chandrika said. "I can hold her."
"Okaasan, your hands are already full," Mitsuo gently said. "I'll take it from here."
Shree saw how he gently held onto Devi's arm as she climbed the stairs. That was enough for her to know how good of a man he was. 
She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see her brother giving her a cheeky grin, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Ugh!" Shree groaned and swatted his hand away.
To her horror, Vasu slipped and almost fell.
"Eh eh!" Shree quickly grabbed his arm to steady him. It was a good thing he managed to get a grip on the handrail too. "Careful lah!"
"Slippery," Vasu pointed at the ground.
Well, it was a cave. A cave in a forest. Of course it was always wet, considering how an occasional drop would land on their heads every now and then.
They arrived at the altar and stood among the rest of the crowd. Mitsuo saw that a label, both written in Tamil and English, was placed on both sides to indicate where men and women were to stand. But literally no one were following it.
The family gave their offerings to the priest and waited as he entered the altar room, where an idol of Lord Muruga sat. Mitsuo decided to just follow the rest and pressed his hands together in prayer as the priest performed the prayers, chanting Sanskrit mantras. He soon came out and handed each of the women a pinch of white powder, called vibuthi, but smeared it straight onto the forehead of men and children, Mitsuo included.
"Why does he place it on my forehead but places it in your hand?" Mitsuo asked Shree.
"Because you're a man," Shree simply said as she smeared the white ash onto her forehead and neck. "If the priest is a woman, she would do that for us and hand the vibuthi to you instead. It's tradition, where a man can't touch a woman freely. Something like that."
"Then what about that little girl?" Mitsuo asked, discreetly motioning towards the child behind him.
"Because she's a child," Shree explained. "Children are considered genderless since they're still young."
Mitsuo understood. "Ah! I see. I think it's the same for us too!"
Shree shushed him when a man carrying a kavadi appeared. Everyone moved away to give him space. The priest came forward too and performed prayers. Mitsuo shuddered to see how the kavadi was literally pierced onto his back.
"Ouch..." Mitsuo murmured to himself.
"They say it won't hurt since they're doing something for God," Shree whispered. "They say that those taking the kavadi will be in a trance-like state since god would guide them along the way. And those piercings you see? They would disappear the moment the priest rubs the vibuthi on them."
"Come, we round the temple first," Devi quietly told the others.
Mitsuo nodded to himself and decided to write it all down in his notebook later.

-prasadam is what they give you after offering prayers in a temple. It could range from vibuthi, the white powder Hindus wear on their foreheads, to flowers to fruits. It's basically whatever that's blessed from god.
Also, any imagery of Batu Caves was from seven years ago. I can still remember most things but some might've changed. I can't go now currently since... well, I'm not allowed to celebrate Thaipusam next year because of my grandmother's passing. And I don't think we're allowed to go leisurely too.

(Note: This chapter was written in late 2022, I can't really remember when exactly, but yeah it was just a few months after... you know. So that's why I couldn't go.)