KUALA LUMPUR - Among those who fulfilled their vows during the recent Thaipusan celebrations at Batu Caves was former Australian diplomat, Dr Carl Vadivella Belle, 64.
The devotee, from Adelaide, had spent 20 years attending the festival and for the first time decided to join others to have skewers pierced through his cheeks and tongue and carry the “kavadi”.
According to reports in the Daily Mail, Belle who lives on a farm with his wife, Wendy fasted for 48 days before the festival with no alcohol, meat or television, while sleeping on the bare floor.
It was during his four-year stint at the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur that Belle developed his interest in Hinduism.
During his recent trip to Malaysia, he was accompanied by French photographer, Eric Lafforgue.
“He is the only Caucasian man who carries the ‘kavadi’ and is hugely popular with Indians as they admire him,” he said.
Before the ceremony, Belle prayed with the priests, so he could get into a trance-like state before being pierced.
After praying, Carl waited to be pierced, telling photographer Lafforgue he wasn’t afraid of the needle, which slices through the flesh of the cheeks and tongue.
“Belle could not even speak as he had a needle in his tongue, but I felt he was really in another world,” said Lafforgue.
When Belle converted to Hinduism, his wife and three children followed suit.
The Daily Mail said the former diplomat explained that his most significant “kavadi” procession was his third, in the 1980s, during which he prayed for his mother-in-law who was very ill with cancer.
She lived for another six years afterwards, and was fit enough to travel all over the world. Carl believes that it was the the work of God.
- http://www.therakyatpost.com/
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