Don Curry and the Big World Politics

Don Curry has met many interesting people during his travels. Some could perfectly mimic the mating call of a Slovakian eagle owl, others saved his smartphone from the depths of a Cambodian jungle river. However, one of the most pleasant encounters he had was in the Keoladeo National Park: Mr. Singh.

After a short walk to the breakfast buffet at his hotel, Don Curry dedicated the rest of the day to one goal: the Keoladeo National Park, one of the most important bird paradises in the world, where during the winter months almost all birds from Siberia and Central Asia escape the ice and snow of their homeland. It used to be the hunting ground of the Maharajas of Bharatpur, who could show thousands of birds as prey in their legendary duck hunts in one day, nowadays only hunted with a camera and telescope.

The night before, Mr. Singh came to the hotel briefly to discuss the joint excursion with Don Curry. Actually, Don Curry wanted to use the classic animal observation times directly after sunrise and in the late afternoon; he also thought that renting bicycles would be useful. But Mr. Singh advised against all of that. It was always very foggy in the early morning, bicycles were too loud, and a long visit was more worthwhile than two short ones. He also advised Don Curry to rent a good telescope, which he would bring for a certain price. Don Curry was initially quite surprised that the guide simply brushed aside all his wishes and ideas, muttered something to himself, but then gave in to Mr. Singh's arguments; however, he wanted to do without the telescope, after all, he had a camera with a good zoom. So they agreed to meet at 8:30 am the next morning.

Definitely not a bird...

This time Mr. Sanjay had a really easy job. He only had to drive Mr. Singh and Don Curry 8 km to the national park and pick them up again at 3:30 pm. In the park's entrance area, Mr. Singh suggested yet another mode of transportation: hiring a bicycle rickshaw with a driver. The driver would receive 100 rupees per hour, equivalent to 1.30 €. In addition, Mr. Singh had brought his telescope after all; he wanted to demonstrate to Don Curry how valuable this instrument would be for bird watching, and this demonstration would be completely free of charge. The rickshaw driver had to make a great effort to move Don Curry, Mr. Singh, and the heavy telescope into the park.

White-breasted Rails

However, rickshaws are only allowed to stay on the main path, all detours have to be done on foot. So Don Curry and his guide soon trudged along narrow paths through the impressive vegetation with the telescope on their shoulders. Don Curry actually considers himself a good observer, usually spotting animals before anyone else. But Mr. Singh pointed in a different direction every meter, called out the appropriate bird name, and usually had a few additional pieces of information. The real enthusiasm of the small, corpulent Indian quickly became apparent. With the sighting of some rarer birds, he was almost more delighted than Don Curry. He also had to confess that he had been suffering from severe digestive problems for a few days, which made him even more sympathetic in Don Curry's eyes - a true fellow sufferer.

Proudly, Mr. Singh finally presented the capabilities of his telescope. With tremendous agility, he focused on birds that were extremely far away and showed Don Curry species that he would not have captured with his naked eye or his camera. The possibility of directly photographing the telescope image with the smartphone camera was also extremely ingenious - Mr. Singh skillfully demonstrated this with Don Curry's smartphone.

During the walks and rickshaw rides in between, Mr. Singh turned out to be talkative, well-informed, and always interested in Don Curry's opinion. He had followed the refugee policy in Germany with great interest, for example. He thought it was extremely good that Germany had taken in so many refugees, but he thought it was equally important that these refugees would eventually return to their home countries to enrich and change their homeland with their German experiences. 'Open minded' turned out to be Mr. Singh's favorite term. He obviously dreamed of a world in which people of all religions, cultures, and political orientations would peacefully and understandingly encounter each other, and a real community could emerge across all borders. For this, people needed education above all, an interest in 'foreign' people, and an open mind. Don Curry very much liked to dream this dream of the small Indian - it corresponded exactly to his ideas of a good future for our world. However, he saw the current situation much more skeptically.

Quirky Owls

So they discussed Brexit, the right of existence of the State of Israel, the global threat posed by fanatical Muslims - also in India, and of course, Trump's election as US president. Mr. Singh mentioned that he had recently accompanied 10 American tourists one after the other: 9 of them considered the election result a real catastrophe, only one revealed himself as a Trump fan.

At noon, Mr. Singh took his companion to the only restaurant inside the national park, where surprisingly delicious food was available at surprisingly low prices. Don Curry would have liked to invite his guide, but he didn't trust his stomach with solid food - so the delicious fish curry with 2 rotis was left to Don Curry alone.

Painted Storks

A breeding colony of painted storks and many other ornithological highlights followed the lunch break; in total, the 7 hours in the national park passed by at a rapid pace. Sweating, the rickshaw driver had to cycle his passengers and the telescope back 8 km to the entrance. Mr. Singh asked Don Curry to come back during the monsoon season, when many more birds would be breeding; he should bring many other tourists and could even stay at his family's house.

The Cyclist and Mr. Singh

Don Curry looked back on this day with great satisfaction. From the slight grumbling of the previous evening, the encounter with a wonderful person had developed, who wanted to see the shared world in such a positive way that it also did Don Curry a world of good. Cheers to all 'open-minded' fellow human beings, he thought as he had his Kingfisher beer opened at dinner...