Having the computer center on Serangoon Road had it’s advantages. Being on the second floor was kinda like being on a balcony in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. And the parade is much the same, except the Hindi women won’t show you their tits.
Thaipusam Durga killed the powerful demon Mahish and all his great commanders. Demonic forces are self-destructive but very powerful. Divine forces are constructive but slow and efficient. When demonic forces create imbalance, all gods unite, becoming one divine force called Shakti or Durga. Shakti’s one bad broad. Do not piss her off. Ran into her before as Kali Maa. In fact, don’t piss off any of the Hindi gods, they’re all in cahoots, and they’ll swarm on you like piranha the size of sharks. 
The more I look at the Hindi gods, the more I realize that they are just metaphorical explanations for what’s going on in the right mind, wrapped up in a bunch of mysticism. The same as any spiritual belief. It’s not dogma, however, like islam or christianity. The hindis that I know that practice christianity put jesus in the pantheon of hindi gods. Just one of the guys. Maitreya is his hindi name. That’s a buddist one on the right, I couldn’t find a hindi one with a black background. I’ve put some more below for your astonishment.
Hindus celebrate the Indian festival on the tenth month of their calendar. It coincides with the full moon at the end of January and beginning of February ‘Thai’. “Thai” is the Hindu month which falls between January 15 to February 15. “Pusam” refers to a star which is at its brightest during the period of this festival. Celebrated in all parts of the world where there is a concentration of South Indians.
This video shows the parade down serangoon road towards the Chetier Temple. (pronounced shittier) The first time I saw thaipusam, it blew me away. 
The pic to the left is the temple, the one to the right is detail. A bit grandious for my tastes, but, what the hell. The second time I went to the staging area where they did the piercing. The let me get right up close. Yup! they’re really doing it. The S’pore link below actually shows where the computer center was. 45 sec if you’re curious. second floor.
So what’s it all about? Basically about light. As opposed to dark. The word means an array of lights. This particular belief came down to us from the dark ages and celebrates the coming of light at the end of the artic winter, ending 6 months of dark. A 10,000 year old belief system. (at least) Betcha you didn’t know that..
Deepavali SAI Durga Tawau KaliMaa Christ/Krishna HindiJesus KashmiriJesus Trance VelMuruga S’pore
The Ann 
