May 2014.
I was riding through the south of India and had stopped in a small village called Vattakanal, where I met Nandu, a local baba.  I spent a couple of days in his company and despite not speaking his language we got on well. He was a very calm man but one afternoon I saw him leap into action when a passing car had clipped a bird who fell and lay injured by the road. Nandu quickly took the little yellow beaked patient and asked us to make a fire, which I did together with two local kids from sticks we found laying around. Nandu used the fire to put the bird into a calming trance and fanned it's injured wing high over the the flame, then looked after the little fella over the next two days as he slowly recovered. 

India's love and respect for the world around us is one of the many reasons why this nation remains so close to my heart.