India, July 7 -- Puri took me by surprise. I came expecting temples and rituals, the spectacle of the Rath Yatra, and the sheer scale of devotion. And yes, the Jagannath Temple was all of that, an astonishing display of living tradition and unrelenting faith. But what caught me off guard was the depth beneath the surface, the way belief isn't confined to temples but spills into every corner of daily life. Here, gods are not distant icons. They eat, sleep, fall ill, and are reborn. The ritual of Nabakalebara, in which the wooden deities are secretly replaced, is a rare act of spiritual continuity that locals speak of with reverence, just like family lore. Beyond the temple town, Puri unfolded like a series of unexpected chapters. The Kona...