The kindness of strangers 

We’ve had a day of challenges, but many moments when people were exceptionally kind to us as Tiger continues to struggle with nausea and with the heat. The food’s not been agreeing with him and he’s a bit down on energy at the present.

But, to start with the beginning of the day, our hotel last night was very bizarre - the triple bed was just the start. The mirror was at a jaunty angle, but fixed at that angle so as not to be straightened. The bell fitting was also fixed at a similar angle. The desk clerk seemed very ill suited to a customer service role and barked orders at us all through check-in. The lock on the door was a bolt and padlock, meaning you could lock people in if required.

Luckily we were guests that they decided not to detain and we escaped without issue in the morning.

We found what looked like a nice café to give Tiger a comfortable start to the day, but the microwaved sandwiches and tandoori fillings were still not the best start for him.

We got a fair way before taking a stop, but as the day heated up, Tiger was flagging. A stop for chai in the shade helped a little, and then a little further we pulled into a restaurant that was closed to just sit in the shade for a while and let Tiger rest.

In fact, he lay on the concrete floor and went to sleep. It was getting really hot in the sun - about 37˚C, so we stayed put and let him sleep.

Some boys pulled up on a scooter and wanted the inevitable selfies and then they headed off. Then we had another visitor, a local policeman. He just wanted to check we were ok and asked where we were heading, and did we want an ambulance for Tiger. We reassured him that Tiger would survive ok, and he left us to it.

A little while later, the policeman was back, with a 2L bottle of cold water for Tiger. What a wonderful man, and we were very grateful as all our water was very warm by this time. He also spotted that Blue Strawberry had a flat tyre (another one!) and offered to take me to a local workshop where they could fix it. I assured him we had everything we needed and set about fixing it, but he stayed with me to check everything was ok before leaving.

Next to visit was a man on a scooter who turned out to be from the temple next door. It was a holy day, Maha Shivratri, which is a public holiday here, so there were festivities taking place at temples all along the roadside. He asked us a lot of questions, but felt we should visit the temple next door, and was calling people on his mobile. Eventually Tiger was feeling a bit better, so we started to move off. It was as we were leaving a couple of women, who were friend of the man with a scooter arrived. They too thought we should come and eat at the temple. However, we didn’t feel the food was likely to be suitable for a convalescent Tiger, so we didn’t take them up on the offer, but one of the women insisted we take a banana from her small parcel of coconut and flowers she was carrying.

We headed off down the road, which was luckily a little cooler as a light covering of cloud was blocking the sun a little. Soon, we came to a Punjabi restaurant and decided to stop and get some food and a cold drink. It far exceeded our expectations.

After a short exchange with the owner, another diner stepped up to help translate. We agreed roti and daal would suit us, but then we had to explain that Tiger was not feeling well. Immediately we were told he had to have curd and rice, and the order was sent to the kitchen. They were right, Tiger ate some roti, some curd and some rice and was soon looking the most cheerful we’d seen him all day.

It turned out our translator was travelling on business. He’s an executive with PSS Oil Mills, a coconut oil producer and if anyone is looking for a supplier of best quality pure coconut oil, we have a sample you can try.

Tiger was also informed that a lassi was also prescribed for his condition, so the restaurant owner insisted he have that too, whilst Sarina and I had a nice cup of chai - a habit we’re very much enjoying.

We made it the last 20km to Hiriyur with no more drama, by taking it slowly. On arrival at the hotel though, you’d have thought a Lamborghini had rolled into town. We rapidly had a large crowd around us who all had a lot of questions. Unfortunately, we speak no Kannada and they had only a little English, so it was a fairly dysfunctional conversation.