I Was Blessed by an Elephant on the Street

Sunday evening Tom and I had to go out for a few groceries. We were driving in a residential neighborhood with some shops and lots of people out on the streets. As usual, an area where tourists do not go and most likely the people in this area have never seen a white person in the area, and some of them have most likely never seen a white person at all. While we were driving I was telling Tom that I was disappointed that I hadn't seen any camels or elephants on the street like I did when we were in North India 2 years ago. Tom said that in Tamil Nadu (the state we are in) there are no elephants or camels on the street and that I won't see that kind of thing here.

We turned down this little side street, and I have to say, we were only there because I wanted a pastry and there was supposed to be this bakery called Hot Breads in the area and we were looking for it. Anyway, we turned down this little side street and we were creeping along, trying to stay out of the way of all the people, motorcycles, cows, kids, etc. and all of a sudden Tom stops the car and tells me to turn around and look out the back window because there is an elephant walking down the street. I turn around and sure enough, here is this elephant lumbering down the street with 2 guys riding it. I grab the camera (never leave home without it, even to go buy groceries!) and start taking pics. The elephant walks right next to the car and then stops, so we go on down the road a little bit.

I told Tom that I wished I could get better pics but it was beginning to get dark outside and I didn't want to use the flash on the camera because I didn't want to be so obvious about pic-taking.
Tom told me that if I give the guys on the elephant money they will let me take a pic with the elephant and I thought why the hell not? When will I ever get another opportunity like this? So, we wait a couple of minutes for the elephant to get a little closer and then we get out of the car. I walk over to about 5 feet away from the elephant and I hold up Rs 20 that I have folded in my hand. The guys on the elephant are nodding their heads and motioning towards the elephant. I am totally confused because I think I need to give the money to the guys, but no, I need to pay the elephant! Tom is telling me to give the money so I hold the money up and the elephant comes a little closer and takes the money from my hand. He folds it up into his trunk and then touches the top of my head with his trunk. Tom had told me the elephant would touch my head but it still startled me and I jumped back a little. Apparently, having the elephant touch the top of my head is considered a blessing over here so I can honestly say that I was blessed by an elephant on the street in India! How cool is that?