This week, an estimated 500 women traveled by bus toward a temple in the Indian state of Maharashtra with the intent of storming its sacred altar ? where females have been barred for more than 400 years.The group?s leader, a fiery 31-year-old housewife named Trupti Desai, had planned to rent a helicopter so she could rappel, James Bond-like, onto the raised platform in the middle of the open-air temple. Alas, authorities had different ideas. Desai and her protesters were stopped about 40 miles from the Shani Shingnapur temple, where an equally determined group of counter protesters had waited, ready to protect it from desecration by female invaders. Read More at www.washingtonpost.com