Don Curry and the Welcome Elephant

Don Curry is not afraid of animals, whether they are small barking dogs or specimens of larger species. But standing right next to a full-grown elephant, looking into one of its gentle orange eyes, and scratching its trunk is not an everyday occurrence even for Don Curry.

At the beginning of the day, however, there was no mighty animal in sight, but a mighty breakfast buffet, to which Don Curry contributed at least a modest amount. Today, as Republic Day was celebrated throughout India, the hotel staff made sure that all guests received badges with the Indian flag.

Afterwards, the group boarded a packed bus and headed to the festively decorated old town of Cochin. The first stop was the old Portuguese church of St. Francis, which was the first European church in India and the original burial place of Vasco da Gama. The group then strolled on foot, surrounded by numerous flying vendors, to the harbor basin with its huge Chinese fishing nets and the fish market, which is currently evolving into a flea market.

Don Curry bought a cool, practical woven folding hat for 100 rupees (about 1.30 €), which he has never worn in public since then. A short bus ride brought the group to the starting point of a second walk, which first led through the so-called Dutch Palace with its impressive frescoes, and then through the former Jewish quarter to the synagogue. For Don Curry, this old place of worship of a nearly extinct religious community in Cochin exuded a very special atmosphere. Despite the numerous tourists in the room, a sense of inner peace could still be felt.

This tranquility was also needed to endure the following seemingly endless bus journey into the mountains in the east of Kerala. The only intermediate stop was the small town of Bhanananganam, where the first holy person of Indian origin, Sister Alphonsa, had lived and was buried. Accordingly, a veritable place of pilgrimage had developed, complete with everything that is part of such places. The pilgrimage church itself, but even more so the nearby parish church, fortunately remained oases of true tranquility amidst the bustling environment.

In the morning, the tour guide surprised the group with the information that not only the tour bus, driver, and co-driver had been replaced, but also that the likable guide Gauror had to say goodbye. Instead, a new team took over: with guide Balaram and bus driver Balu, the latter of which had a stature that corresponded to his name. Balu was able to demonstrate his skills on the beginning mountain route. However, he approached the whole thing much more calmly and relaxed than his predecessor. His motto was probably: "Take it easy!"

It was only after dark that the destination was reached: a city that officially has three names - Thekkady or Kumily or Periyar - and is located directly on the border with the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu. However, the sleepy bus ride was followed by a potpourri of surprises. The first was that the bus could not drive up to the hotel, which is located further up the main road in the mountains. Instead, 8 jeeps were ready, onto which the entire group distributed themselves to be transported rapidly up the curvy mountain road - now everyone was wide awake again. However, everyone became even more awake, if possible, at the end of the jeep ride. The group had already experienced many welcome ceremonies in various hotels, but today's program surpassed everything that had been seen before. A large group of drummers in colorful costumes provided visual and acoustic attention in the foreground, while young female hotel staff draped fresh jasmine flower garlands around the arrivals for aromatic accents, and the many torches in the background gave the whole scene a certain magical note. But the real wonder was a huge, festively decorated Indian elephant that stood right next to the infernally noisy drummers and led the subsequent procession to the hotel. The entire scene could have come from a fever dream or a not particularly good or consciously surrealist Hollywood film: 35 German tourists trudged through the Indian darkness, surrounded by penetrating drummers and sari-clad young women in the flickering torchlight and following a gigantic creature.

At the end, the welcome elephant was ready for photo shoots. Normally, Don Curry doesn't like such staged photos at all, but he couldn't resist the allure of being able to be so close to this mighty animal. Cold towels and juices in the hotel lobby finally completed this astonishing production. However, the surprises were far from over. Before dinner, everyone was invited to an open-air stage where a young artist performed two examples of Indian expressive dance - once traditional and once modern-popular. And even dinner had its very special character in this hotel. Since the hotel did not want to pay for the expensive government license to sell alcohol, all relevant bottles and cans were neatly wrapped in aluminum foil. Therefore, Don Curry never found out whether he actually drank beer from his anonymized can, or perhaps something completely different.

Just before falling asleep, Don Curry could still feel the wrinkled, rough skin of the elephant's trunk on his fingertips, and he thought about the deep gaze into that gentle, orange eye...