Happy Deepavali 2011 - Kolam at Shopping Malls 01

Happy Deepavali to those who are celebrating the Festival of Lights, especially to the Indian community in Malaysia.  :)

Happy Deepavali 2011 - Kolam at Shopping Malls 02

This is the first time in my life I have a public holiday for Deepavali in Malaysia.  Previous years I was in East Malaysia where it is not a public holiday.

Happy Deepavali 2011 - Kolam at Shopping Malls 03

Happy Deepavali 2011 - Kolam at Shopping Malls 04

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Happy Deepavali 2011 - Kolam at Shopping Malls 07

I have visited KL for quite a few times in the past, but have never come during this festive season.  I am surprised to find that there are Kolam(s) in all of the shopping malls I have just been to recently.

Instead of 3D decorations (which can usually be seen in shopping malls), this time I saw a 2D decoration.

Happy Deepavali 2011 - Kolam at Shopping Malls 08

Kolam is a type of painting painted with coloured rice powder.

Happy Deepavali 2011 - Kolam at Shopping Malls 09

I noticed that most of them have peacocks as their theme.

Happy Deepavali 2011 - Kolam at Shopping Malls 10

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Happy Deepavali 2011 - Kolam at Shopping Malls 13

Some of these decorations are labeled as Rangoli.  I don’t really know about their differences.

There are 2 separate entries in wikipedia on Rangoli and Kolam.  From what I understand, Kolam is a type of Rangoli?  Correct me if it is wrong.

Happy Deepavali 2011 - Kolam at Shopping Malls 14
Other Deepavali decorations at a shopping mall.

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I thought of going to Batu Caves (KL) today, and see how crowded it is but I have other plans.  I recalled someone told me that it will be more crowded during Thaipusam.

I will wait for SiewPeng to join me in KL and we are going to visit Batu Caves during the festive season, and I am sure that we will have a true life experience on how crowded it is.

I believe that there might still have a comfortable space between people so that visitors can still move around even it seems very crowded from the pictures (same thing as a picture of a crowded shopping mall), compared to the space on KTM train (city route) where the space on the train is sometimes zero or negative (terribly squeezed among human).

Once again, Happy Deepavali to everyone. :D