AT THE TEMPLE

When he saw us, he smiled and without thinking we smiled in reply. We sat at the end of the temple so as not to interfere with his duties. He worked with precision. He knew where and when to do his duties. He was like a robot; very timely and very agile. We kept looking and wondering when Guna would make his move.
After quite a while, I thought Guna was aware when the priest had completed his task when Guna got up and approached him. By then he was sitting cross-legged near the entrance of the temple. Guna went nearer and greeted him. He acknowledged and Guna started his tale about what I had witnessed and the favour asked by the couple.
The priest listened intently and nodded his head now and then. Then he smiled and got up. He came over to where the rest of us were seated. He sat cross-legged in front of us and before. By then, we were quite comfortable and had got over the fear of him. He started talking and asked us a lot of questions. We answered, or rather I answered all I could as truthfully and as close as I could without leaving any details.

TO SEE THE MEDIUM

So, the next thing was to seek the priest from the Indian temple nearby. It was another scary place. The statue of the God in the temple was awesome and frightful. Even though we had not done anything wrong or silly when we were there, we were afraid of it. We had been naughty, playful and cheeky but we still feared the temple and its inhabitant.
The little temple was not very far from our hoses. Just a short wlak and we would be there. Would he, the priest believe us; the story? Would he think that we were pulling a fast one on him? Would he laugh off as a joke? How could we convince him and get him to go to the tamarind tree at night? Tonight!
Guna, the braver and wiser of the five decided to talk him into helping out. He would be the spokesman. The temple was ahead of us. Someone, possibly the priest had just carried out prayers because we saw the lights on the oil lamps still flickering when blown by a breeze. There were lights from little square incenses laid around the altar and at the doorway of the temple.
We were sure to find the priest there now. Without any doubt, he was just coming out from the inside of the temple where the statue was situated. He was dressed in his usual white dothi, a white coloured cloth wound around his waist and covering his lower torso. His upper torso was bare. His long hair; which I had seen him washing and drying, was now tied into a little neat bundle behind his head. He had a little beard and moustache on his face. On his forehead he had applied some white powder used for praying. Both part of his upper arms were also smeared with the same white powder. He did not look frightening. He was rather a solemn figure going about his duties.