My friends and me...and religion - Part 1

I form close friendships with time, but again, over time, we drift apart. As in, we move to different cities, countries.. in the name of our jobs, families.... However, I still have the fondest memories of most of them, never mind that we haven't seen/spoken to each other in years.

There was B- a Christian pal I had during my MA days. She was the most scatterbrained girl I have ever had for a friend. And also one of the dearest. We were quite inseparable, and when, once, we went to Guruvayoor, she accompanied us. I had no worries that her visit would sully Lord Guruvayoorappan. All of us were suitably clad, and we were chatting our way through the long queue, and had almost reached the front doors, when- horror of horrors!!! Madame B had the cross out on her chain for all to see!

We very much knew that it was forbidden for non-Hindus to enter, and were petrified that at any moment one of the temple authorities would see and haul us up , and create a scene and... God knows what! We were 5 of us, and somehow we managed to put her in the middle while the offending cross (sorry Jesus) was shoved into the interiors of her clothing. Whew! Phew! Our beating hearts calmed down, and we proceeded inside, offered our prayers to Lord Guruvayoorappan and came out. Once outside, the tension seeped out, and we rolled on the floor with relieved laughter, literally.

Then there was the time, when on an early moring excursion, we bumped into a beautiful relic of a temple, with fish in the temple pond and a rambling rose growing in the midst of the Tulsi inside the temple courtyard...We went inside and since it was the morning hour the temple priest was doing the puja. He came out with the arti. Now, B knew that we anointed sandal paste on our foreheads, and put the flowers on our heads, but she had not yet gotten into the fundas of the arti, and so she just proceeded to copy us. She held her hands over the flame and took them to her forehead, and then- proceeded to make the sign of the cross!
Practice dies hard, you see.