Elephant Blessing

Alright, so before I get to the so cool, absolutely awesome part of this post, I'd like to start from the beginning. The whole group was taking a trip to Pondicherri, which is about 2 1/2 hours away. Pondicherri is a French-based town, so it is full of Indian culture with lots of French construction. It is a beautiful city. 

Along with amazing shopping, Pondicherri is famous for a few things, including a paper factory and a worldly known Ashram. The paper factory was magnificent. We got to go through and see how they make it- but, I mostly loved to see how they put the designs on it. They do marbling, strip leaves and flowers, make paper mache, etc. Anything you can think of that has to do with paper, they have it covered. We also got to walk through the main floor of the Ashram. Kind of commercial, but you can walk around the prayer water, touch it with you fingers, kneel to pray if you wish, and then just move on. The air all around was busy and commercial, but as my fingers touched the stone, I felt a complete piece fall over me. I could really feel my Heavenly Father near.

Overall, Pondecherri was pretty magnificent. Here are a few pictures for examples.

Now for the best part about our trip to Pondicherri. There is an elephant named Lakshmi. Lakshmi is the name of the Hindu Goddess of wealth. So, you go to the front of the Hindu temple and you will find Lakshmi, the elephant. 

You walk up to Lakshmi, give him either a rupee or something to eat, and then he will in return give you an elephant blessing. Which really is just a bop on the head from his trunk. It is so satisfyingly goofy. He will stick out his trunk to you, and you put whatever you want to give down one of his nostrils, I guess, and then he just bops you right on the head. It is pretty amazing. Here is me giving him some fruit.

And here is Kenady getting her blessing.

Melissa, Kenady, and I had so much fun together roaming the streets of Pondicherri. We loved the richness of the French influence (especially because there was a bakery that sold actual bread items and good desserts) and the speed and culture of India. Not to mention, Lakshmi was pretty freaking awesome!