Scary things that we laugh about later...

A security guard chased me out of a Hindu temple a couple days ago. Many people have nightmares in which they arrive to work and have forgotten to put on pants or a large zit eats up their face. Travelers have nightmares about staying in cockroach laden hotels, forgetting toilet paper, or running out of water. American travelers on malaria medication have nightmares about the police accidentally arresting them and sending them to a corroded jail cell for 20 years with former heroine addicts and thieves, or about terrorists blowing up the American Consulate while inside. Or so I thought. The St. Olaf group stopped by a famous Hindu temple in Chennai to take a brief tour to learn more about the religion. We all stood in awe of the entrance roof that stood 30 feet tall where statues of painted gods and goddesses looked down on us. A couple of days prior we had attended a religious service at a Jain temple, a religion that branched off of Hinduism and focuses on nonviolence; and it was a wonderful experience. The people were friendly and very informative. Our guide at the Hindu temple was an old man wearing a lungi and three stripes of ash on his forehead. He showed us first to a woman selling jasmine outside. She pinned it in our hair and asked for ten rupees. Then we took off our shoes before entering because they are considered unclean. We walked in and the guide said, "Krishna!" He pointed at a man statue, maybe the one with three heads or the other one with ten arms. "Ganesha!" Ah, the elephant statue. Hundreds of incense sticks burned outside of several smaller temples that we passed in the main temple's courtyard. A woman rang a bell before entering and signaled something across her chest, similar to a Catholic crossing her chest before sitting in the pew. One of the security guards (don't be alarmed, there are security guards at every establishment here) brusquely called to our guide. The lanky guide yelled back at the security guard, waving his finger above the both of them, but suddenly stopped. His eyes widened and looked back at one of us in the group. At me. And pointed to boots strung to my camera bag. Uh, oh. Boots I had brought with me to hike around a crocodile park we were headed to later that day had just desecrated the holy temple. Not only is wearing shoes unclean, but bringing them into a place of worship (not only for Hindus, but also Indian Muslims, Christians, etc.)is as well, or so I found out. Our program director calmed down the both of them saying, "It's okay; it's okay. She does not know. She does not understand," while unlacing the boots from my bag. So sorry, sir. So sorry. I tried apologizing. I did not realize. The guide said, "I told you to leave the shoes outside." But all seemed forgiven because he regained his tour composure, the twirling, swirling one. There are nine gods representing the nine planets. Yes, yes. Go see them. That is the goddess Swanathami. Swan-what? He spoke quickly. Our program director returned, shoe free, but so did the security guard and his yelling. So we orbited the nine planets and fled from his reprimanding finger. What a nightmare. hahahah...nervous laughter.