The curious case of the dog that barked

Lord Muthappan is a local deity worshiped mostly in the Malabar regions of Kerala. Considered a manifestation of the duo of Lord Vishnu and Shiva, he is peculiar for many things not least of which is the fact that he was always a rebel. 

Anybody can enter the famous Parassini kadavu temple, irrespective of caste or religion which is in keeping with the mindset of the God back when he was a child and fought against such oppressive concepts. Toddy (and even fish) are served to both the devotees and the God at the temple premises. You will always find dogs inside the temple even today as Muthappan had a fondness for them. In fact, the first prasadam of the day is served to them.

The ritual Theyyam dance performed at the temple is truly a sight to behold, irrespective of your beliefs. 

One aspect of the daily prayers is that after the Theyyam, the performer is said to be in a trance with the powers of the God within him. During this time, devotees queue up daily and voice their grievances to him. His replies are uniquely rapid-fire speed and punctuated by a trademark loud laugh of his. They are also extremely specific, as most devotees would proclaim.

Hard to believe, eh?

Ya, I can see where the leap of faith is necessary. And I will never force you to believe. But I will tell you a story.

One night, a decade ago, we were woken up at home to the sound of our two dogs barking furiously. Assuming they may have seen a wild cat or some such, we did not mind it initially. When the barking did not stop (which was extremely unusual for the dogs, especially Ruby), we feared it may be a robber and so stepped out of the house. We checked the premises but could not find anyone. 

Before there was the nutty Snoopy, there was the sweetheart Ruby.

Curiously, not even our watchman who usually stayed at home for the night. We checked everywhere for him but he just was not there. We did not think too much of it and went back to sleep.

The next morning, we woke up to the news that shops in the small shopping complex we owned near our house had been robbed. After checking the complex, we realized that the locks had minimal damage to them. Knowing that he had a set of keys, we asked our watchman. He promised us the keys had not left his possession. He also swore that he had been fast asleep in our house all night though. The first lie led to the next when we challenged him on it - with him stating he had slept inside the car which again did not compute since we checked everywhere. Caught by his own words, he eventually admitted that he had left at night to help the others rob us. We dismissed him but as has always been our folly, succumbed to the tears and did not file charges. 

Two months later, my father was there in the midst of a crowd nearing 600-800 watching the Theyyam by Muthappan. He did not get into the queue though to speak to the performer because it had already grown too long. As usual, his eyes were on the antics of the dogs around when suddenly he felt someone tap his shoulder. When he turned, he found dozens of people staring at him. They all were pointing to the front where the deity had singled him out and asked him to step forward, cutting the waiting line. Shocked, my dad obliged and went past the hundreds there and to Muthappan.

"After coming all the way here, you don't plan on meeting Muthappan?" the deity asked, referring to himself in the first person as is his style.

My dad just smiled meekly.

"Do you have any worries to tell Muthappan?"

My dad spoke of a few things troubling him and Muthappan laughed before responding.

"Have faith in Muthappan. Everything will be alright."

 Muthappan continued, once more with that loud laugh in between sentences.

"Didn't Muthappan help you catch the thieves robbing you? Did I not alert you? Have your dogs ever barked like that before or after that night?"

It was only then that my father remembered what had happened at home months ago.

It had not made the papers and we had filed no complaint. Yet, here was this guy surrounded by literally 600 odd devotees and he cherry picked the one devotee probably eight to ten rows back whose attention was elsewhere and brought him forward, bypassing the queue to tell him that his guardians were our guardians. That he knew of a robbery that many in our own family had not been informed of, let alone the part about how we found out the role of the watchman.

How could he have known about the dog that (unlike in the Sherlock Holmes story) did bark on that particular night?

How could he have known a story that not many others knew?

Even if he had heard the story from someone, how could he have known to pick my dad - no celebrity, by any means - out of a crowd in a temple that sees close to probably 10,000 footfalls everyday?

More importantly, why did the dogs bark that night so furiously when they had seen the watchman leave the house every day and even at night for so many years prior to that event?

A series of coincidences or divine doggy intervention?
Sometimes the truth is indeed Stranger Than Fiction. 

Authors note:

This is my anecdote for the theme "Stranger Than Fiction" for the blogger challenge Blog-A-Thon by Blog-A-Rhythm. You can read other entries for this theme by fellow bloggers here.

During this 7 day challenge, I have written on:

Day 1 - The Curious Case of the Dog that Barked (Religion)

Day 2 - You Never Know where your Journey in Life Will Take you (Inspiration/Movies)

Day 3 - Heimlich Maneuver - for all scenarios (Medical) 

Day 4 - Caught Red Handed - Doggone it! (Dog years)

Day 5 - Robert the Doll (Horror/ Real life)

Day 6 - The Saviour (Short Fiction) 

Day 7 - Recipe - Easy Eggless Chocolate Cake (Food)