Yes. We are in the rat temple. There are THOUSANDS (this is in no way an exaggeration) of rats. They are running around. They are feasting on the food that is made for them by the vat in the corner. In spite of the fact that they are well fed and sheltered, their fur looks matted and funky. (Note that we are aware that 30,000 people die of rabies each year in India, according to Lonely Planet.) There is fear in our eyes. There are rats scurrying around our toes. We are sweating. Our taxi driver wants us to follow him into a hallway, to get to another part of the temple...we are frozen in our tracks, staring at the hallway. It is like running the gauntlet. Hundreds of rats scurry back and forth, wall to wall, while people shuffle through, with nowhere to run or hide. We do not want to offend our taxi driver, who is kissing the walls and having a generally wonderful religious experience. So we suck it up and go, rat turds and sugary rat food crunching beneath our feet. We have agreed that it was possibly the most bizarre experience of our lives.
2 comments:
Looks like a nice place to pick up a case of the Plague! Yikes, and you had to be barefoot?!
I actually saw a special on the discovery channel, I think, about the small Indian culture or village that worships the rats. You know they also drink and eat rat poop and pee because they beleive they are absorbing the holy spirit--similar to eucharist in Christianity.
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