When I visited the great temple of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu I was met and shepherded around by one of the temple priests. As first I was not welcome of his company. To photograph I need to be alone and to quietly observe my surroundings. The constant attention of a guide becomes a nuisance quickly. In a futile effort to gain me independence I asked if he had some where to go or something to do? Casually he so no he had nothing to do. In fact besides helping with the morning pujas and large holiday events he was essentially unemployed. Realizing that I was not going to be left alone I accepted his invitation to guide me to the center of the temple where we could observe the cacophony of the evenings puja.

Later that evening as we exited the temple the priest abruptly invited me to his home for tea. His house was a small two room dwelling affixed to the huge eastern wall of the temple. I was suspicious of the priest’s invitation since I assumed his hospitality was merely a pretense to extract some money from me and not a genuine interest to spend some time talking. Over our tea the priest explained that the number of priests at the temple had greatly diminished. That even with their reduced numbers there was still very little work to go around. His humble dwelling emphasized the families poverty and I was not surprised when he asked for a donation. He explained that the money I was giving him was for a special puja in my honor to be conducted at some astrologically appropriate moment some time in the distant future. Although I fully expected to be asked for money I felt awkward as I reached into my wallet to give the priest 100 rupees. Having completed the business transaction of the evening I quickly excused myself for the night and went to bed. I left Chidambaram the following day and did not expect ever to hear from my friend the priest again.

Seven months later I was surprised to find a red and blue air mail envelope mixed in with a stack of letters. The envelope was addressed to ADAMCLAYMAN - PHOTOGRAPH. The stamps depicting a yoga practitioner and solar energy cells announced that the letter was from India. Inside was a small packet of red powder and a small printed billet in Tamil. On the back was a brief message: "behind words of Tamil meaning — I did a puja for your goodness." Suddenly I felt very blessed and thought that the pilgrim’s life continued to bring great rewards.