Don Curry is becoming native

Don Curry is quite adaptable. The longer he travels through a country, the more he becomes aware of the special behavior of the locals and adapts. So he has been wearing sandals for a long time, leaving his socks in his suitcase, and his shirt hangs casually over his pants. Only when it comes to food, he doesn't like to adopt the local traditions; some cutlery, even if it is just a spoon, is important to him. But even the North Indians criticize the South Indians for eating rice with their bare fingers - they consider it uncultivated. So Don Curry can pass as a northerner. There is no common language among all Indians anyway; if necessary, they speak English to each other. This is why Don Curry is often asked about his state citizenship when paying for his tickets. As a fair-skinned person, he was immediately identified as a foreigner, but after five weeks of constant exposure to Indian sun, his skin color is almost indistinguishable from that of a native.

The kitchen team and the waiters probably thought the same when they served him a meal in many bowls and dishes: a typical Indian breakfast consisting of rice cakes and several flavorful sauces. This spicy meal is not Don Curry's thing at this time of day. But he bravely resigned himself to his fate and ate his cakes, while the waiter suddenly brought toast, butter, and jam. Then he brought muesli with warm milk, fresh fruit pieces, and freshly squeezed orange juice; even after Don Curry was already satisfied, the waiter asked how he wanted his breakfast eggs. The concept of the local service team is not yet fully developed, but the guest took it in stride. Venketesh was also ready by now. He had changed his safari clothes in camouflage colors to a more fashionable blue and white combination because they were going to the city today. Venketesh was supposed to take Don Curry on a sightseeing tour of the temple district of Hampi, while Prince would later take care of loading the luggage and wait for Don Curry in Hampi in two hours.

With a good mood, Venketesh headed towards Hampi, showing his house and family along the way, who were gathered in front of the house. In Hampi, he was allowed to drive his yellow SUV where cars are otherwise not permitted. First, he headed directly to the main temple of Hampi, the Virupaksha Temple. Don Curry had to explore the temple on his own, but with his weeks of experience with Hindu temples, he easily found his way around. He was particularly impressed by the well-preserved ceiling frescoes in the main hall and the gigantic gopurams, even though they exuded power and dignity rather than the cheerful, brightly colored gopurams in Madurai or other places in South India.

Afterwards, Venketesh drove through the car-free area of the former main market to the huge Nandi, which stands about 700 m from the temple. Venketesh was visibly excited about Don Curry's genuine interest and gradually showed him all the important temples and monuments of religious Hampi.

Finally, he took him to one of his favorite spots with a magnificent view of the river and the surrounding rock formations. Don Curry saw coracles again, which could be rented for trips on the river. Unfortunately, there was no time for that because Prince was already waiting impatiently. Don Curry said a heartfelt goodbye to his part-time driver and promised to return to Hampi for more days at some point.

Prince was indeed waiting, but not impatiently. He was too engrossed in the five-day cricket match between India and Bangladesh, the decisive day of which was today. He had repeatedly tried to get Don Curry interested in this sport during the long journeys and explained moves and rules. He enthusiastically spoke about his hero, the captain of the Indian team, who had somehow scored over 200 points in something. Don Curry couldn't really understand the strong national enthusiasm for this leisure activity of the former colonial rulers, but in India, cricket has acquired the status of a substitute religion that unites Hindus, Muslims, and Christians without any problem.

Unfortunately, Don Curry had to tear the good Prince away from his cricket world because there was much more to see in Hampi. However, Prince only drove for a maximum of 5 minutes to the next destination, while Don Curry had to spend 30 minutes sightseeing: from the Underground Shiva Temple to the fantastic Hazara Rama Temple, the massive elephant stables, the Queen's bath, and the former huge harem area surrounded by mighty walls, where "transgender people" stood guard on the watchtowers, as a passing guide informed his elderly American tourists. Even the old eunuchs had suddenly received a very hip modern name, Don Curry marveled. By the way, he had to state his nationality for the first time when buying a ticket for the harem grounds. As an Indian, he would have saved €7.50 entrance fee.

After so many ruins on rocks, in rocks, or surrounded by rocks, Don Curry was now overcome by a huge hunger. Prince returned to Hampi while watching cricket and asked if he could accompany Don Curry to the Mango Tree restaurant. He had been quite disappointed with their choice yesterday.

Both of them sat in the relatively empty Mango Tree today and ordered Diet Cokes and fried rice dishes: Prince with egg, Don Curry with cashews. Understandably, Prince's dish lacked the usual spiciness, but Don Curry thoroughly enjoyed his rice dish. He was amazed to see that one after another, all the waiters came to their table to catch a glimpse of Prince's smartphone - all Indians are truly addicted to cricket.

Refreshed, they headed towards Badami, the next and final destination in Karnataka. But as soon as Prince started, the cricket match ended with an early and decisive victory for India. However, in two weeks, the Australians would come, Prince explained, and that game would be much tougher. The journey to Badami didn't take as long; it ended after just three hours. Don Curry wanted to drive to the cave temples to check the opening hours, but that turned out to be almost impossible. All the narrow streets of the old town were either terribly tight or blocked by market stalls. Nevertheless, Prince fought his way to the destination centimeter by centimeter. A magnificent view of the cave temples and their surroundings served as a reward for both of them.

The reserved accommodation, the Krishna Heritage Resort, turned out to be a very new and well-maintained facility with large, well-appointed rooms. Don Curry even found a comfortable hanging chair on his terrace. Only the restaurant couldn't keep up with this high level. A large part of the dishes listed in the extensive menu were not available. At least Don Curry got a spicy lemon-coriander soup, chicken in Mughlai style, cumin rice, and 2 chapatis, along with a Kingfisher beer. He went to bed early. He knew that the next day would take him a little deeper into the secrets of India and would make him feel a little more like a local.