The sight of the Eiffel Tower made his heart dance with joy. Oh! It was good to be back home. His country had lost almost all of their foothold in India by the end of the Carnatic wars, thus ending all French ambitions to establish a French empire in India. He had returned home with the defeated troops after a long and strenuous journey across the continents. His comrades were either tired, sick, depressed or dead. But not him, he would soon be the toast of the French court. He smiled to himself.
The weight of his shabby back pack made him slouch. But he was happy to suffer the pain caused by 38 kilos of the precious stone. He had accomplished the impossible. Disguising himself as a Hindu convert had not been challenging, but stealing the beautiful diamonds that were shaped like the half of a hen's egg had been. And how could it not? The diamonds had served as the eyes of Lord Ranganatha, located deep within the sanctum sanctorum of the Srirangam temple.
He had strangely been unnerved that night. Which thief wouldn't be, considering that the entity he had robbed was revered as the supreme power by those beautiful South Indian locals. However, here he was now and it would only be a matter of few hours before he would receive his million francs. Yes, it would be a new life from tomorrow.
Just as he entered the dark alley that housed the location for illegal sale, he was grabbed by a dirty peddler who held a knife to his neck.
"The bag or your life", he whispered into the soldier’s ears.
They fought until he was free of the load on his back. He watched as the peddler ran swiftly down the dark alley with what would have been his bright future. But it was what he heard that chilled him to his bones.
Just as he turned the corner, the peddler looked back and exclaimed "Vous savez, mes yeux étaient ouverts! - "You know, my eyes were open!"
The next morning, some urchins found a wounded and blind soldier who had no recollection of how he had got there.
In response to the daily prompt from Wordpress, I was inspired by the Wikipedia snippet I read about one of my favourite Gods Lord Ranganatha who is located at the Ranganathaswamy Temple located at Srirangam.
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