Departing Kerala, we arrived in Mangalore, Karnataka’s largest coastal city.
Not really being on India‘s hot-list as tourist destination, we planned to leave the next day by train up to Mysore. Unfortunately the only train was a non-sleeper, cattle car style train leaving late and arriving at 4am. So that was scrapped.
Which is where the taxi comes in…
Strange Thing #1: A taxi driver put his meter on… IN INDIA.
We decided to see whether a bus runs to Mysore. We flagged down a standard auto rickshaw man and his 3 wheeled suicide machine.
His first question: “Do you speak Hindi?” (No! And odd because in Karnataka, Kannada is the main language.)
After I replied that I could say ‘water’, ‘how much’ and listed a couple of obscenities, he seemed very pleased and switched the meter on!
I challenge any other foreign traveller in India to attempt this feat!
Strange Thing #2: I ate far too much Thail and actually turned down cinema snacks
Bus ticket secured to Mysore, we set out to sample the local Mangalore cuisine. Spotting a ‘Pantaloon’ cinema chain, we found to our delight that a English film was playing, The Margaret Thatcher biopic, The Iron Lady. Perfect.
With 45 minutes to kill before the start, we headed to a standard Indian canteen. A ‘pure vegetarian’, metal plate/no cutlery establishment.
Pre Special-Thali
Don’t do what I did and order the SPECIAL Thali.
Post Special-Thali
5 minutes to go before the film, we waddled back to the cinema, burping up curry and multiple chapattis, walking straight past the sweet smelling film snacks. Outrageously out of character I know…
Lessons learnt today:
Not all rickshaw drivers are scum, and 10 portions of curry is my limit!
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