Paranoid Castle

Man! Indians are some serious stare-ers! Not sure about that spelling, but lay off, you bastards. It's uncanny though, their eyes are just drawn to me. I realize that I am ridiculously beautiful, with a dazzling smile, healthy glowing skin and an extraordinary aura of friendliness, but is that what brings the stares? No, its probably that I'm just a weird, bearded, dirty foreigner wandering around with a giant backpack and shorts on. Shorts! E gad, how uncouth. But seriously, so far it seems staring and hanging around with other dudes is the primary occupation of many of these guys. There isn't shit going on, but there can be just packs of males lounging in the shade, snickering and staring at strange white tourists. Most are friendly, only want to know what country one hails from. Some exchange jokes in their native language, obviously at the expense of the non-comprehending foreigner. One accepts these things with a smile, and a casual knock at the male Indian predilection for holding each others hands. Always with a smile.

Met an interesting character at Golgumbaz, this really big mausoleum built in the 17th century for a Muslim ruler from Bijapur, in northern Karnataka. (Incidentally, the dome on top of this building is the second largest freestanding dome in the world after St. Peter's Basilica) Manjunath is a journalist, environmentalist and photographer who works for Karnataka state in classifying and preparing historical sites to be viewed by the public. He has done a lot of traveling across southern India and was able to recommend a variety of different places that I should travel, highlighting the best parts with some well-shot photographs he had on his computer. We had dinner together two nights and really got along pretty well, had similar literary interests and shared some of our favorite authors with each other for future reading. Manju was also able to get me in for free to some of the other sites around Bijapur, which is always a bonus. Prices are always higher for foreigners, but the scale is ridiculous. It costs 5 Rs for Indians to get in and 100 Rs for foreigners. Granted, 100 Rs is only like $2, but its the damn principle!

Before Bijapur I was in Hampi, a really fantastic place in central Karnataka. Amazing ruins scattered all over these crazy looking boulder mountains, so much territory to explore, and really some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen. Unfortunately, the wave of good health I'd been riding to this point crashed down around me in Hampi. Last sunday I got sick and made many, many, many trips to the bathroom over the next few days. The squat toilet was my dear, dear friend. Haven't been eating much since then, and am starting to look positively gaunt (for me); don't worry I'm not the Messiah...yet. Feeling way better in the last couple days, hopefully will graduate to eating meals again today, been strictly on a banana, coconut and water regimen. Alright, I'm bored, later.