Don Curry stranded

Don Curry is disappointed. When he plans a trip, he reads a lot. He wants to know as much as possible about the places he plans to visit. Over time, the many pieces of information form concrete ideas. Don Curry almost feels like he has already experienced the places and is returning to them. But imagination and reality don't always match. Today's events would clearly show that.

Don Curry had arranged to meet Prince at 8:00 am. He decided to skip the meager breakfast buffet at the Supreme Hotel and instead gather some strength by dozing off a little longer. A long car ride was ahead.

Punctual as always, Prince was ready with his freshly cleaned Toyota Innova, the luggage was loaded, and the journey to the far southeast of India could begin. The experienced driver estimated a 3.5-hour drive to Rameswaram, and he was right. He had chosen something special for the music: a fully sung religious service in the Syro-Malabar rite - devout, rhythmic chants with a touch of Bollywood in melody and harmony. Overall, it was good, unusual background music for the long drive on mostly well-built roads. Only occasionally did Prince complain about the absurd driving maneuvers of some other drivers and emphasized several times that people in his home state of Kerala drive much better and more calmly. After his experiences in Delhi, Don Curry found that people all over the world drive better and more calmly than in India's capital. Tamil Nadu could no longer scare him.

At the end of the drive, the mainland narrowed into a tapering peninsula, and on both sides, the sea became visible: the Indian Ocean to the south, and the Bay of Bengal to the north. A 2.3 km long bridge then leads over the Pamban Strait to the island of Rameswaram, which is only about 20 km away from Sri Lanka.

In the capital of the island with the same name, an extremely important Hindu temple attracts pilgrims at all times. It is closely associated with the history of the famous Indian epic Ramayana, but also has a high spiritual significance. There are over 20 water tanks on the temple grounds and in its surroundings, each containing a very special water with unique properties. Most pilgrims try to visit all the water tanks in a predetermined order, immerse themselves fully clothed in each tank, and then enter the innermost sanctum of the temple. However, for hurried pilgrims, a particularly large tank is available directly inside the temple, which is filled with water from all the other tanks every day; this way, with one bath, you get the full package. The Rameswaram temple is famous above all for its vast corridors, the longest of which is over 200 m long. Presumably, these long corridors were intended to help pilgrims dry their clothes, as they are not allowed to enter the innermost sanctum while wet.

Prince brought his eagerly anticipating passenger to this temple. It was 11:30 am. Since there was no parking in front of the temple, they quickly agreed that Don Curry would only stay in the temple for an hour and that Prince would wait in the street across from the temple. And off he went...

Don Curry went to the main entrance and first looked for a chappal, a place to store shoes. Upon inquiry, he was directed to an extremely dirty staircase, at the end of which were shelves for shoes in a dirty, dark room. Whether the whole thing was actually guarded remained unfathomable to Don Curry.

Barefoot - and with rather dirty feet due to the staircase - he now went again to the main entrance. At the obligatory security check, he was told that he had to hand in not only his camera but also his smartphone. Now he understood why all the small shops around the temple had signs saying 'Cell Phone Locker'. He handed over his devices at a trusted store and even received a numbered tag: here they were much more professional than with the shoe storage. Once again, Don Curry reached the main entrance, was thoroughly frisked, and finally allowed to enter the temple.

The corridors were indeed impressive. With perfect symmetry and colorful paintings, they provided excellent photo opportunities - but Don Curry was deprived of all those possibilities. He soon found the large water tank with the complete mixture and could observe Hindu priests pouring water over eager pilgrims. But that was all Don Curry could see. All the other areas of the temple were off-limits to non-Hindus. Only now did he realize that no self-proclaimed temple guide had imposed himself on him here. There was nothing to guide here... Disappointed, Don Curry left the temple after 25 minutes, collected his belongings, and set off to find Prince in the street across from the temple. But no white car in sight. Don Curry quickly realized that parking in this street was impossible as well. Therefore, he assumed that Prince had parked his car somewhere outside and would come by after the hour had passed. He strolled along the outer temple wall for a while, taking photos of some of the yellow-colored temple towers, and soon felt two conflicting physical needs. Something to eat would be good now, but also a way to get rid of what had already been eaten. Well, Prince would definitely come by at 12:30 pm...

So Don Curry waited, walked back and forth, but then retreated to a shady staircase directly next to the temple entrance. From here, he would see Prince no matter which direction he came from. It was 12:30 pm, it was 12:40 pm, it was 12:50 pm. Slowly, Don Curry started to worry. What could have happened? An accident? New health problems in Prince's family? It was 1:00 pm. Don Curry went to the opposite street again, even looked intensively into the side streets: nothing.

The stomach growled, the bowels grumbled, and by now Don Curry had to sit on the upper, dirty steps of the staircase because the lower steps were already in bright sunlight. It was 1:30 pm. Three white-clad Brahmins passed by and unmistakably demanded that Don Curry take off his shoes - the staircase belonged to the temple. But taking off alone was not enough, Don Curry had to place his shoes on the street in front of the staircase. He would have preferred to tell the Brahmins that if the purity of the temple was so important to them, they could sweep this rather dirty staircase. But he knew that his annoyance had other causes: Where was Prince?

It was 1:40 pm. Don Curry tried to read, to distract himself from the increasingly clear warning signals of his body. But the traffic noise bothered him more and more. Numerous buses, trucks, cars, and tuk-tuks turned into the access road right in front of the temple, and each vehicle felt compelled to announce and accompany the turn with a powerful honk. If two oncoming buses met at this point, the trumpeters of Jericho would likely have turned pale with envy at the infernal spectacle here. It was 1:50 pm.

Don Curry made a decision. If Prince did not return by 2:00 pm, he could no longer assume a normal delay. He was truly stranded in this unpleasant city of Rameswaram. He urgently needed to find a place where his stomach and bowels could be taken care of and where he could also establish contact with Prince. Don Curry had an idea. It was 2:00 pm.

During his search in the side alleys of the opposite street, Don Curry also discovered a gathering place for tuk-tuks. He now hired one of the vehicles to take him to a good hotel. He had seen several on the outskirts of Rameswaram and spontaneously chose the Daivik Hotel. The tuk-tuk driver literally demanded 8 euros for the ride, Don Curry gave him 200 rupees (= 2.90 €), and finally, he was in a clean, air-conditioned environment filled with gentle background music - almost like heaven after the hell he had been through. First, Don Curry asked for lunch - it was already 2:20 pm - whereupon the beautiful, angelic waitress in an elegant white and gold sari brought him the menu with a radiant smile. He ordered Chicken Korma with 2 Chappati breads and salted lime soda, enjoyed the comfort of a sparkling clean toilet in the meantime, and inquired at the reception for the password for the hotel's Wi-Fi. While his sari angel mixed the soda in front of his eyes and served the Korma with a smile, Don Curry struggled with the extremely slow internet connection. So, it wasn't quite heaven yet...

After the lunch, which was consumed way too quickly, Don Curry went back to the reception and described his situation there: he had lost his driver. The chief receptionist immediately offered his help, let Don Curry use the reception computer to Google the contact details of his Indian travel agency. With the hotel phone, Don Curry quickly reached Prince's boss, who promised to take care of everything immediately. The chief receptionist visibly shared Don Curry's joy about the upcoming happy ending.

Ten minutes later, Prince appeared worried and confused at the Daivik Hotel. He had just received a call from his boss asking if he knew where his customer was. Probably still in the temple, Prince replied. But his boss did not believe that; he replied with relish that the customer had long been waiting at Hotel Daivik and would want to find Prince. - In the end, it turned out that the whole problem arose from the term 'opposite street'. Don Curry understood it to mean the street opposite the exit point from Prince's car, while Prince meant the street opposite the temple entrance. So, both had been waiting for each other for over two hours, even though Prince had been standing about 50 meters from Don Curry's temple staircase, but in a driveway and therefore not directly visible. What an unnecessary adventure, and what an unnecessary visit to Rameswaram...

Prince immediately gave Don Curry his mobile number, and they both decided to get a SIM card for Don Curry in the next major city.

The long journey to Chettinad was enlivened by hundreds of pilgrims who walked barefoot along the roadside in colorful robes, carrying their few belongings on their heads, heading towards a distant temple. In many villages and towns along their way, they were provided with food and drinks by the local people. Some sang pilgrim songs while walking. Don Curry wondered above all what their foot soles would be like.

Once arrived in the small village of Kanadukathan, the Chettinadu Mansion was quickly found. It is a huge estate of an old merchant family that once became rich from trade in Southeast Asia. Their house, actually a palace, has a total of 106 rooms, 12 of which are rented out to guests, while the large family occupies or otherwise uses the rest.

Above all, the entrance hall and the first courtyard are equipped with noble materials, and the rooms also stand out for their individual, colorful design: beautifully patterned tiles cover the floor, walls, and ceiling, and doors and window shutters are hand-painted. Antique beds and furniture complement the special flair of this accommodation that Don Curry had been looking forward to. But this day brought him another disappointment: he was assigned a room on the ground floor, a spacious but windowless room that also directly adjoined the kitchen and breakfast room. As a result, he could hear dishes clattering and cutlery clinking at an early hour. He had made his displeasure with this room so clear, however, that he was promised a room on the upper floor for the next day: a room with a balcony.

The food also had a reconciling effect. Don Curry simply ordered the complete menu. The Chettinad merchants primarily traded in spices in the past, so they could also afford high-quality seasonings for their own dishes. Since then, the cuisine of this region has been considered one of the best and most flavorful in all of India. Chettinadu Mansion serves exclusively typical dishes of the region. Everything directly served on the metal plate was tasty indeed; one dish in particular was striking: a bright red fish roasted whole. Don Curry initially thought the fish was ashamed because it was so small. But that turned out to be wrong: the fish was red with embarrassment because it consisted mostly of bones. The seven dishes were accompanied by a delicious Indian beer - for the first time not Kingfisher, but British Empire, which is labeled as 'extra strong' with its 6% alcohol content. Maybe a little bit exaggerated...

Don Curry was disappointed on this day - multiple times. Not everything can be as beautiful as one imagines. But then there is at least as much that becomes much more beautiful than one could ever imagine. But this experience would be reserved for the next day...