Temple elephant

As we were walking through Pondicherry, we came upon an elephant in front of a temple. I am intrigued by the elephants, especially when they are decorated. Michael said, "Oh look! A temple elephant! I haven't seen one of those for awhile." We walked over, and I was watching it instead of Michael. Michael came to me with a handful of grass and said to feed it to the elephant then bend down. I did, and got blessed by an elephant! When we got there, we were the only people there. As we stood there, a crowd gathered, feeding and getting blessed. There was a hut selling grass. The elephant would also take coins and flip them back to the person sitting behind it. There was a sign that said "No bananas", but I saw people feed them, and although it took awhile, the elephant would eat them. I especially liked when the baby got blessed. The elephant was not tethered, although it looked like it may have been. It had ankle bracelet jingle bells on its front legs, but the back looked scarred. They may have been on purpose, though, like a tattoo. I don't really know. I just know that at the time I was there, it just stood were it belonged and gave blessings.