In the morning I with couple from France got off the train in Kathgodam and took a taxi to Almora. 3 hours journey was very nice – flowers were blooming, brook was babbling, insects were buzzing, it was quiet and everything was green and clean.

At the beginning we had difficulty finding a hotel. Hotels were either in terrible condition or already occupied mostly by Indian tourists. Finally, we decided to stay at the hotel close to small slum area. And here begins my story about Almora.

While we were walking with our backpacks to the new hotel, one terribly intrusive man came to me and tried to get me to his hotel. He was bothering me sooo much. I answered in angry tone of voice: NO!

The same moment I stepped in huge warm cow poop wearing my sandals. When the man saw it he immediately vanished. It was “funny“situation … my foot was completely dirty and I did not have any water with me.

And suddenly, as I stood there helplessly, little girl child from the slum ran up to me. Seeing what happened she immediately ran back to the slum and brought a bottle of water. She started cleaning my foot. I wanted her to give me a bottle to wash it by myself, but she did not want. When there was no water, she ran back to the slum to take more. She repeated this at least three times.

When my foot was clean, the girl looked at me with wide and a kind smile and ran back home. It was a beautiful moment. I stayed there motionless, speechless with tears in my eyes, because I expected her to ask for money, but she didn’t. So I convinced her to come back and generously gifted her. She again smiled at me and joyfully running back.

This is an example of a typical Indian contrast. A rich man who wanted to make more money rather go away and little girl with a smile on her face selflessly did everything possible to help me and didnt expect anything gained some reward.

In my country it is said that if someone step in poop, she or he will get lucky. The next night and day was one of the worst, but the luckiest day I have ever experienced in India. I will never find out if I got lucky because of this experience but it is an example that „miracles“happen in India as well.