The extract contains oleic acid, a compound that can bind with the stone and protect it, according to Dr. Karen Wilson of the Cardiff School of Chemistry at Cardiff University in Wales.
Yet despite the fact that we are all as familiar with this formula as we are with compound interest, very little of this intellectual water ever reaches our stone dry hearts.
Anyone can receive a blessing from the temple elephant, Lakshmi. (After you give her a 100-rupee note, she whacks you gratefully on the head.) But train passengers have a special advantage: You go back at night to Hampi's central Vittala Temple complex, a compound of intricately sculpted halls with rows of pillars and the central stone chariot that gives the train its name.