Munnar, Kerala: You could think of it as the pain of demonetisation eased by a fine example of hospitality in Kerala, which prides itself on its tourism slogan of ‘God’s Own Country.’ A foreign tourists had food at a restaurant in the resort town of Munnar and tried to slip away without paying the bill because he had no cash on him. He was caught but the restaurant staff let him off upon realising that their guest had simply run out of options to pay.

Khader Kunju, who has been running a restaurant in Munnar since 1989, said the incident occurred on Friday at the eatery near his own establishment.

The 40-year-old tourist had asked if the restaurant accepted credit cards before ordering food and was told that facility wasn’t available. But he still went ahead and “had lunch and, after washing his hands, he ran away”, Kunju told IANS.

“He was caught by the hotel staff, but let off when he said he has money but there was no way he could withdraw it as the ATMs did not have cash.”

Kunju said it was not a one-off incident and that foreigners visiting Kerala had been much inconvenienced since the federal government announced on November 8 that it was spiking the country’s 500 and 1,000 denomination notes — 86 per cent of all currency in circulation.

Kunju said he too had faced “similar situations as many of my clients are foreign tourists”.

The restaurant owner narrated an incident when a group of French tourists — four men and four women — walked into his eatery and said they were very hungry and wanted to eat but had no cash.

“They said they have credit cards, but since I don’t have swiping machine, I told them they can have food and pay later.”

However, the generosity came with a cost.

“Their total bill was Rs1,600. A few days later, the women came and paid their amount, but the men slipped away and have not paid as yet.”

Kunju said he had never in his lifetime seen a situation like this.

Koshy John, a tour guide, said he had been signed up by a group of foreign tourists who landed on the day the demonetisation scheme was announced.

“The announcement proved a nightmare,” John said. He said his guests had exchanged their currencies hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement.

And most of the time his guests spend “waiting in queues at banks”.

“They left disappointed,” said John, adding that there has been a drop in the number of foreign tourist arrivals.