For story continuity, please check my previous blogs.

The fourth chapter is Bad Omen
     

      It was just a few minutes ago that Paranjothi leaned on a load-bearing stone on the side of the road and started to sleep. He suddenly woke up after hearing some voice.  Someone was talking like this on the street.  

      "If a temple elephant turns rogue, isn’t it a bad sign!"  

       "Yes; some great tragedy is about to befall the country!" 

      "How did the elephant lose control?" 
 

       "Who knows? An outsider threw a spear at the elephant. They say the elephant went mad. 

       "They say it was a rebirth that the sculptor and his daughter survived?" 

       "That's right; Even the dance performance had to stop in the middle and then this danger befell them."

       After that Paranjothi could not hear what they said. When he heard the speech, "The elephant has gone mad because the spear was thrown at it!" Paranjodi's heart was startled.  Then he remembered something else.  He left the bundle he had brought in the middle of the street and ran away.  In that bundle were the letters which he had brought to Navukkarasar and sculptor Ayanar.  His clothes and the small amount of money he had brought were also in the bundle. I must get that back.  Will the bundle still be at the place where I put it?  How do I find that place again in this big, disorienting city?

      Paranjothi got down from the load-bearer and started walking towards that direction, surmising which way he had run.  By this time the crowd on the streets had reduced considerably.  All the doors of the house have been closed.  They switched off the street lamps.  Fortunately the full moon was pouring milky vanilla.  Paranjoti walked for a long time in the moonlight, looking sharply in all directions.  No matter how much he walked, he could not find the place where he had faced the elephant.  He could not find the bundle anywhere.
In time, the streets fell silent.  Paranjoti knew that it was midnight by seeing the moon in the sky.  The legs were too tired to walk.  It is enough for him to put his body down somewhere.  No use searching for the bundle.  All he has to do is go to Navukkarasar Monastery somehow.

      But how to go?  There is no one on the streets to even ask for directions.  Paranjoti felt strange at the thought of wandering alone in that big city where millions of people lived.  Do I have to wander like this all night?  In this city of thousands of mansions, halls and houses, I have no place to stay for the night?  Fortunately, it looks like someone is coming. He can hear the speaking voice. He decided ask them.

To be continued....