Ponggal celebration at the KL Tower

By BAVANI M

VISITORS to KL Tower on January 15 are invited to participate in a ponggal (milk rice) making session in conjunction with the Ponggal festival. 

The Indian rice harvest celebration has been an annual affair at KL Tower. 

It will start at 10.30am and participants will be a given a clay pot each and ingredients like rice, milk, ghee and more that is required to make the ponggal.  

“There will also be a story teller who will explain to the participants the history and significance of the Indian harvest festival so that participants can better appreciate what they are doing,'' said event organising committee chairman P. Kamalanathan.  

Kamalanathan (fourth from left) and Zulkifli (third from right) stirring the ponggal with help from Bhavani Shanmugam, 10, while others look on at the launch of the Ponggal festival at KL Tower recently.

“The event received encouraging response during the past three celebrations held here,'' he said.  

According to Kamalanathan, at least 50% of the participants who took part in the Ponggal festival last year at KL Tower were foreigners who were visiting the tower. The others, he said, were students from local universities.  

“What's nice to see is the fact that people are interested to take part in cultural activities like this and are eager to learn the history behind them,'' he said.  

Chief Executive officer of KL Tower Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad said that they would be organising more cultural, adventure and nature related activities this year.  

“About 61.3% of our visitors are foreigners and they enjoy seeing cultural related activities at the tower. In fact, cultural activities such as Ponggal are the kind of events that attract visitors ,'' said Zulkifli.  

The event is being organised by Putera MIC, Menara KL and sponsored by Syarikat Serba Wangi Sdn Bhd, the distributor of manufacturer Beras Jati and Master Arisfood Industries Sdn Bhd, the manufacturer and distributor of Royal Cocoa. 

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