I managed to watch an episode of “Highway On My Plate” after a long time. The episode seemed to feature Rocky and Mayur’s journey along the southern coast of India. At one point, they talked about a temple in Kerala, the Ananthapura temple, where a crocodile – a vegetarian one at that(!) –has been guarding the temple since many years. The temple person mentioned that the crocodile eats only jaggery and rice which is used for offering at the temple. He called out to the crocodile but he seemed camera-shy, preferring to nap in its cave instead of coming to meet and greet Rocky, who in my opinion had ventured too close for comfort.

When the camera zoomed in on the crocodile  the top of his head seemed to be covered with rice. There was rice elsewhere in the cave too. Clearly, the food offered was more than what the animal could (or would care to) eat. This disturbed me a lot. Aren’t these people wreaking havoc on the natural eating patterns of the animal, its digestive system and health – all in the name of faith? Isn’t it unhygienic to let the rice stay in its cave, possibly rotting and polluting the lake? Wouldn’t it be wiser and more practical to feed some of the offering to the needy and the poor instead of letting it all go to waste?

P.S. you can read more about the crocodile at http://www.mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=33896