By Mark
Travelling through India we are constantly meeting new people, with each stop we make we always attract a crowd and amongst some of these people we are lucky to meet some very special and kind folks. After arriving in Hisar and having some issues with finding a hotel, Rajesh stuck his head through the crowd and asked us if we needed any help. We obliged and in no time found ourselves in a hotel room sitting and having a tea together (as you do in India) and getting to know one another. Next thing we knew we had been invited to dinner. We had a beautiful dinner with his family and talked of our travels and was told many a story and shown many pictures of Rajesh's bike trips and family holidays. After a lovely evening, Rajesh gave us a lift back to our hotel and we promised to meet up with him again on our next visit to India.
The following day we were on our way to Chandigarh when a short fuel stop ended up being a 3 hour break. This all came about after the President of the local village saw us fueling up and wanted to meet us. Before we knew it we were sitting down enjoying another cup of tea. We were then invited back to his home for lunch but not before the obligatory photo shoot with all the locals. One photo is never enough for these guys... After a little run across town we were at the house of his sister in law who cooked us up a huge treat of your typical Indian meal of roti, dahl etc. The funniest thing we have come across is when we say we cannot eat anymore we are always hit with the question, Do you not like? After lunch we had a meet and greet with all the neighbours and children and another photo shoot was in action. Just as we were preparing to leave we were invited to stay and be the guests of honour for the night. Sadly we had it in our heads that we needed to get to Chandigarh and declined the invitation. It was obvious they were very disappointed that we weren't staying and when we said goodbye, Mr Singh said that in all his 40 years of living this day was his happiest! Did that make us feel like assholes for leaving or what?! These people were so lovely and so happy to have met us... We had a hard time that evening racked with guilt for turning down such goodhearted people. We have vowed not to do this again and never want to think we have to be anywhere else when such great opportunities arise.
Travelling through India we are constantly meeting new people, with each stop we make we always attract a crowd and amongst some of these people we are lucky to meet some very special and kind folks. After arriving in Hisar and having some issues with finding a hotel, Rajesh stuck his head through the crowd and asked us if we needed any help. We obliged and in no time found ourselves in a hotel room sitting and having a tea together (as you do in India) and getting to know one another. Next thing we knew we had been invited to dinner. We had a beautiful dinner with his family and talked of our travels and was told many a story and shown many pictures of Rajesh's bike trips and family holidays. After a lovely evening, Rajesh gave us a lift back to our hotel and we promised to meet up with him again on our next visit to India.
The following day we were on our way to Chandigarh when a short fuel stop ended up being a 3 hour break. This all came about after the President of the local village saw us fueling up and wanted to meet us. Before we knew it we were sitting down enjoying another cup of tea. We were then invited back to his home for lunch but not before the obligatory photo shoot with all the locals. One photo is never enough for these guys... After a little run across town we were at the house of his sister in law who cooked us up a huge treat of your typical Indian meal of roti, dahl etc. The funniest thing we have come across is when we say we cannot eat anymore we are always hit with the question, Do you not like? After lunch we had a meet and greet with all the neighbours and children and another photo shoot was in action. Just as we were preparing to leave we were invited to stay and be the guests of honour for the night. Sadly we had it in our heads that we needed to get to Chandigarh and declined the invitation. It was obvious they were very disappointed that we weren't staying and when we said goodbye, Mr Singh said that in all his 40 years of living this day was his happiest! Did that make us feel like assholes for leaving or what?! These people were so lovely and so happy to have met us... We had a hard time that evening racked with guilt for turning down such goodhearted people. We have vowed not to do this again and never want to think we have to be anywhere else when such great opportunities arise.
Rajesh and his family minus his son who had already crashed out
The President of the local village invited us for lunch
This cool looking dude, just another fellow in the crowd
hanging around at the petrol station, gave us his blessings
Many photos were taken during our lunch break with all the neighbours wanting to jump in
Our super friendly hosts
Sanne struggling to feed herself was given a helping hand
The youngest was a little wary of the wildebeest
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