Unexpected Encounters

Last 16th was such an eventful day that started out totally unplanned at a totally odd time but things just turned out way better than we thought.. well.. not everything though. =D Since there's lots to tell, I'll postpone this story *with lots of plot twists* to a later date.

Oh and don't go away, cause I have just as interesting a scoop to tell you today. More than a story, it's about some of the unexpected encounters I had at this place of worship, Maligawa or the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, that I've talked about a number of times before. The photos I'm posting were captured on different days.

And the post is all about a bunch of lil fellows who call our pinnacle of reverence their home.

* CTRL + Click to expand images


Peek-a-boo! I see you!

Right at the entrance of the Maligawa there's a huge ornate gateway and when you pass through it you could see a moat from either sides. Often I've seen people *both young and old* taking a peek with utmost curiosity around here.

And since some time I too have been doing the same.. almost as a ritual whenever I visit here. To my surprise this was my lucky day.. for this is what caught my eyes and the lens.


I'm sure you can spot the fishes without a trouble but do you see anything else in the pic?

Of course.. there's a one that goes peek-a-boo! while stretching its neck as far as it could.. trying to eavesdrop the interesting gossip between the fishes.


It's a tortoise I think. Well.. I couldn't see its legs from up here, so can't be sure if it was a turtle or a tortoise! *I know that's not a good excuse* -__-

If you still couldn't spot it, then let me give you a clue. Look towards bottom left of the pic and you'll see the curious lil fella with a popped out head, on the lower step nearest to the waters.

That was it. I couldn't take more snaps or see what it was up to as my parents almost left me behind and entered Maligawa. =D

Grooming 24/7?

When you take the passageway that leads to the New Shrine Hall *which I've mentioned here, that houses a good number of Buddha images and beautiful paintings* you could see the sky between these 2 buildings.


Those slanted pillars carry the stunning golden canopy that hangs right above the repository that holds the Sacred Tooth Relic.

As you can *or can't* see in the above picture, there were about a dozen or so monkeys grooming here and there.. while some were leisurely doing roof edge walks and wall climbing.


I was quite interested in their grooming rituals so I thought to hang around a bit and take more pics. It was a sight to behold where one monkey would sit still while the other monkey would pick out ticks or fleas or whoever is bugging carefully.. one by one.. and nuke them!

But... one of these monkeys who was sitting at the edge of the roof nearly gave me a heart attack. You see it suddenly got an urgent call of nature and decided to free from its burden right from the same spot! O__O

And yep, you guessed it right. A sudden shower came pouring down and luckily I was around 3-5m away from the scene of crime, under a well sheltered spot, so I escaped unscathed. *phew, that was close* And I also prayed no one would take the very passageway and sure enough no one did. I released a sigh of relief and bid farewell to those ill-mannered monkeys and left the scene.. right away!


Ready or not.. here I come!
When I took this shot it was raining heavily. We were drenched from head to toe as the torrential downpour came suddenly and we had no time to collect our umbrellas as we were coming out of Maligawa and going through the Devala complex, which sits in front of Maligawa.

So we took shelter at the Natha Devalaya, a shrine dedicated to the deity called Natha. And then... someone caught my attention.


Can you spot it? This is the small shrine room and Bo tree in the premises of the Natha Devalaya. Someone was already taking shelter from the downpour.

'Why did the chicken cross the road?'

Well this lil fellow decided to answer that age old riddle and crossed over to our side.. just so it wouldn't get soaked anymore.


The chicken felt comfortable enough.. so it decided to stay over. And then..


.. a rooster appeared before us! I totally forgot where I was and started grinning like a hyped up journalist with a big scoop in hand. ^__^ And then...

"Hey, let's play hide 'n' seek"
"Sounds cool to me"
"Ok then, I'll hide and you seek"
"Righto. I'm off to hide"
"Then I'll start counting. One, two, three, four..."


"Cool.. but hey.. no cheating or peeking!"
"Gotcha!"

While the white chicken decided to hide, the red rooster decided to stay back and count. And then...


"Darn, ya peeking roostah.. I told ya no cheating!!! Grrrr....."

Sadly I don't know how their game proceeded next cause we had to leave the spot thereafter. But there were more lil folks I found unexpectedly around here.

Like these pigeons who took shelter from the rain, while the chicken and rooster were busy playing games.


Can you spot them? There were 3 of them huddled at the top of the gateway *just below the roof* on the left side of the pic. You could also see a small stupa here *towards right side* and a Na tree *Ironwood tree which is also known as our national tree* in between them. I'm not exactly sure if it's a Na tree or not though but its flowers looked beautiful even from a distance.

...

The Devala complex is usually infested with 'Ge kurullo' also known as house sparrows. *mom calls them ge kurullo, not sure if they're something else* I usually see them perched on eaves or way up on gateways, chirping out loud. But this time I saw them on the ground for a change.


There's a kiosk right next to them selling various items for offering and such. And these birdies were here just before the entrance that leads to the Pattini Devalaya and Wel Bodhiya.

They were scouring the ground for food I guess and didn't mind me snapping them close by.


Wish I could have gotten a lil more closer to them but at the same time didn't want to lose a nice photo opportunity. Hope I'll get a close up of them next time.

That's it for today. ^__^