Where bus shelters, tree trunks are home to soothsayers and gods

With one side of P.T. Rajan Salai unusable, it is not surprising that this elderly soothsayer has made one of the bus shelters his place for trade. He was immersed in reading the newspaper and did not even notice me taking pictures. On an adjacent street, R.K. Shanmugham Salai, I noticed how gods and goddesses can come alive on the base of a tree trunk. I heard that it had started years ago with a small idol and had now grown to its present eye-catching size and status, complete with platform and all. There would be yearly festivities here as as well. Sadly for those who are running this roadside ‘temple’, it is likely to be knocked down by workers engaged in the construction of a hospital building behind it.