The temple dolls

Today I was at the temple to offer my prayers. The temple looked like a new bride as the annual car festival is going on. There were thousands of devotees and volunteers were busy in laying out the plantain leaf and feeding the devotees with delicious hot meals. I had my food to the heart's content and was taken around the temple by the crowd when I saw these huge life size dolls.

The dolls are to be manned by skilled men who would get into the hollow dolls and walk around the procession to entertain the spectators. Well, it is a usual sight here in southern India, but it was something new for my 3 year old son who thought that the dolls we're monsters who would swallow us in just a gulp. He refused to come anywhere close to the dolls and was yelling his lungs out even if I stepped closer to the dolls. The crowd shifted their attention from the procession towards us to understand why my son was crying so loud. It took me a lot of time to pacify him. I tried explaining to him that the dolls were harmless and cute, but he was just not ready to take it. However, my elder one was happy to learn that our little devil is scared of something at least.