The temple bells, the pervasive aroma of camphor and incense sticks, and the melodious lullaby being recited for Lord Krishna welcomed us, as we entered the temple arena of Sri Krishna Temple in Udupi.
We joined the long queue. As we moved, suddenly a group of people rushed in from back, all clad in saffron, seemed like a bunch of VIPs. The queue ahead of me was stopped and a special entry was given to them. I don't know what went inside me, I asked the guard in a raised voice about breaking the queue. We waited nevertheless, but it seemed like an endless wait with these VIPs not moving at all after their darshana (glimpse of the Lord).
Few more people joined me and then it seemed as though I didn't have any control on my reaction. I raised my voice higher and was shouting at this guard. My raised voice fell on deaf ears. A loud temple bell in the background brought me back to normal self.
The queue moved and as I was having the darshana, a priest appeared from nowhere and was shouting at the people to move fast. I asked him, "Where were you when VIPs were here?" He didn't have an answer.
Although I felt good that I asked a fitting question to the priest, as I walked back to the hotel, the scene kept coming back. Did I do the right thing by shouting at the guard? Did I achieve anything by losing my temper? Did my shout will bring about any change or made any difference to anyone? Will those VIPs stop cutting through the queue in the future?
Nope. Peace at the temple ruffled for a moment.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Me, Mr. Murphy and the city of pearls
If anything can go wrong, it will. Most of you would have heard about this Murphy’s Law. Normally I don’t agree with Murphy's laws, but sometimes I am forced to. What unfolds now is one such incident that took place recently where Murphy had his way.
The flight to the city of pearls (for the less informed, it is Hyderabad, India) was smooth and we later checked in to a hotel. The hotel was fine but due to some problems we checked out and checked into another hotel and this one was a three-star hotel. The lobby was beautiful and I thought I am going to have a wonderful stay (I didn’t hear Murphy laughing in the background). We finished the campus interviews and I decided to stay back for couple of days to explore the city of pearls and also catch up with my friend.
Being a movie buff, something that I did not want to miss was a visit to Ramoji Film City. I checked with hotel staff and they said the bus leaves in the morning at nine near the hotel. All excited, I went to bed and got up at six. All seemed well until now.
After a sip of coffee, I went to shower and to my surprise it was not working!!! Well, that was the last thing I expected in a three-star hotel. I could hear Murphy laughing! I had to catch the bus at nine and I was getting late. I called up housekeeping and they sent a person who could not do much about the problem. It was more like “he came, he saw and he went away”. I called the reception and asked them to shift me to a new room right away. The hotel guys badly wanted to fix the problem. May be they wanted to prove something. After fifteen minutes of impatient wait, a plumber came in and he temporarily fixed the problem. Finally they decided to provide me a new room.
I could catch the bus on time. Ramoji Film city is one of the famous tourist destination and also Guinness record holder for largest film city spanning 1600 acres. I went through various tours and at end of day little tired, I felt that it was not a good idea to visit the film city all by myself. It would have been more fun with a group.
I came back to hotel and they had shifted my luggage to a new room. I tried to open the room and nope! It ain’t supporting me. The electronic lock looked quite angry with me and was generating beeps in various frequencies. The anger was passed on to me and I went straight to the reception and had a short discussion with receptionist at higher decibel level.
Well, few minutes later everything was fine and as I entered the room, I thought nothing possibly could go wrong now. I first checked the shower and hey it was working quite fine. And they had put up a snack bar in the room that looked quite yummy and inviting. The prices kept me away though. A housekeeping guy walked in with dry-cleaned clothes and then without a word took away all those snacks as if it was meant for him. For some reason, I didn’t ask him anything and thought, “May be it was not meant for my room”.
Next morning I woke up, had a shower and I visited Birla temple. It is a very beautiful temple located on a hillock. I enjoyed a good view of the city. I had the darshan and called my friend. We then drove to the IT city and while coming back we stopped by a spa, called Latitude and had a rejuvenating massage. We were quite hungry after the massage, so we headed straight to Kakatiya’s and had a relaxed lunch. I came back to the hotel at around four. This was probably the best part of my stay at Hyderabad.
I informed reception that I will check out in an hour and they showed me dry-clean bill and I wondered why there are three digits in total when I was expecting two. The reason was simple, they had billed twice. I tried explaining the error with receptionist and when nothing much was understood by him, another short discussion followed at varying decibel levels. The receptionist understood.
I went near my room and it was already open. Oh no!! Burglary? Nope, it was the snack bar in-charge who was checking on snacks. He had a shocked look on this face and looked as though he wanted to ask me - “How on earth you finished all the snacks kept there without any traces of wrappers, Sir?” I immediately told him about the snacks and housekeeping boy. The person in-charge did not seem to buy it. He left the room wondering about the snack and its whereabouts. At this point, I had made a conclusion about this “three-star” hotel - never come back to this hotel and spread the message.
I reached airport and was waiting in the lounge. Away from the hotel, where Murphy had his way, waiting to board the airline that claims flying models, In-flight entertainment and great food, I told myself, “Nothing can go wrong now.” I normally prefer an aisle seat, but this time I thought of having aerial look of “namma bengalooru” (our Bangalore) and asked for a window seat. I felt as though Murphy was laughing again. I turned around and saw nobody.
I boarded the flight with a warm welcome from the flying models. Instructions were played out and then there was chairman’s message on the video screen. And, I was all excited to enjoy the return journey with some song, music and the works. The person on my left was watching some news channel and lady further away was watching a TV show. I put on the headphones, and tried to switch channels. I tried, tried and tried in vain and my TV screen remained the same. It was plotting which way the plane is heading with zooming in and zooming out at frequent intervals. I wonder who on earth would be curious enough to watch this channel on a one-hour flight. Especially, when there are so many channels one can watch and listen.
I tried again, removed the headphone, put it again etc. and finally it dawned on me that the system in my seat isn’t working. Hmmm, nothing can go wrong now. Right? I could see Mr. Murphy dancing on my screen. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and counted from 100 to 1.
Reached Bangalore and initially I had planned to take an auto, but thought I deserve a peaceful drive back home. I booked a taxi with special instruction that it has to be an Indica and not a Maruti van. I got the receipt, went out and waited for the vehicle. Couple of minutes later, it seemed as though I heard Murphy laughing again and I see my driver in a Maruti van. Not again !!! I get back, some higher decibel talks at the counter and got my slip for an Indica. Murphy did not seem to bother on my way back home. Maybe he found someone else :-) I enjoyed the drive back home.
The flight to the city of pearls (for the less informed, it is Hyderabad, India) was smooth and we later checked in to a hotel. The hotel was fine but due to some problems we checked out and checked into another hotel and this one was a three-star hotel. The lobby was beautiful and I thought I am going to have a wonderful stay (I didn’t hear Murphy laughing in the background). We finished the campus interviews and I decided to stay back for couple of days to explore the city of pearls and also catch up with my friend.
Being a movie buff, something that I did not want to miss was a visit to Ramoji Film City. I checked with hotel staff and they said the bus leaves in the morning at nine near the hotel. All excited, I went to bed and got up at six. All seemed well until now.
After a sip of coffee, I went to shower and to my surprise it was not working!!! Well, that was the last thing I expected in a three-star hotel. I could hear Murphy laughing! I had to catch the bus at nine and I was getting late. I called up housekeeping and they sent a person who could not do much about the problem. It was more like “he came, he saw and he went away”. I called the reception and asked them to shift me to a new room right away. The hotel guys badly wanted to fix the problem. May be they wanted to prove something. After fifteen minutes of impatient wait, a plumber came in and he temporarily fixed the problem. Finally they decided to provide me a new room.
I could catch the bus on time. Ramoji Film city is one of the famous tourist destination and also Guinness record holder for largest film city spanning 1600 acres. I went through various tours and at end of day little tired, I felt that it was not a good idea to visit the film city all by myself. It would have been more fun with a group.
I came back to hotel and they had shifted my luggage to a new room. I tried to open the room and nope! It ain’t supporting me. The electronic lock looked quite angry with me and was generating beeps in various frequencies. The anger was passed on to me and I went straight to the reception and had a short discussion with receptionist at higher decibel level.
Well, few minutes later everything was fine and as I entered the room, I thought nothing possibly could go wrong now. I first checked the shower and hey it was working quite fine. And they had put up a snack bar in the room that looked quite yummy and inviting. The prices kept me away though. A housekeeping guy walked in with dry-cleaned clothes and then without a word took away all those snacks as if it was meant for him. For some reason, I didn’t ask him anything and thought, “May be it was not meant for my room”.
Next morning I woke up, had a shower and I visited Birla temple. It is a very beautiful temple located on a hillock. I enjoyed a good view of the city. I had the darshan and called my friend. We then drove to the IT city and while coming back we stopped by a spa, called Latitude and had a rejuvenating massage. We were quite hungry after the massage, so we headed straight to Kakatiya’s and had a relaxed lunch. I came back to the hotel at around four. This was probably the best part of my stay at Hyderabad.
I informed reception that I will check out in an hour and they showed me dry-clean bill and I wondered why there are three digits in total when I was expecting two. The reason was simple, they had billed twice. I tried explaining the error with receptionist and when nothing much was understood by him, another short discussion followed at varying decibel levels. The receptionist understood.
I went near my room and it was already open. Oh no!! Burglary? Nope, it was the snack bar in-charge who was checking on snacks. He had a shocked look on this face and looked as though he wanted to ask me - “How on earth you finished all the snacks kept there without any traces of wrappers, Sir?” I immediately told him about the snacks and housekeeping boy. The person in-charge did not seem to buy it. He left the room wondering about the snack and its whereabouts. At this point, I had made a conclusion about this “three-star” hotel - never come back to this hotel and spread the message.
I reached airport and was waiting in the lounge. Away from the hotel, where Murphy had his way, waiting to board the airline that claims flying models, In-flight entertainment and great food, I told myself, “Nothing can go wrong now.” I normally prefer an aisle seat, but this time I thought of having aerial look of “namma bengalooru” (our Bangalore) and asked for a window seat. I felt as though Murphy was laughing again. I turned around and saw nobody.
I boarded the flight with a warm welcome from the flying models. Instructions were played out and then there was chairman’s message on the video screen. And, I was all excited to enjoy the return journey with some song, music and the works. The person on my left was watching some news channel and lady further away was watching a TV show. I put on the headphones, and tried to switch channels. I tried, tried and tried in vain and my TV screen remained the same. It was plotting which way the plane is heading with zooming in and zooming out at frequent intervals. I wonder who on earth would be curious enough to watch this channel on a one-hour flight. Especially, when there are so many channels one can watch and listen.
I tried again, removed the headphone, put it again etc. and finally it dawned on me that the system in my seat isn’t working. Hmmm, nothing can go wrong now. Right? I could see Mr. Murphy dancing on my screen. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and counted from 100 to 1.
Reached Bangalore and initially I had planned to take an auto, but thought I deserve a peaceful drive back home. I booked a taxi with special instruction that it has to be an Indica and not a Maruti van. I got the receipt, went out and waited for the vehicle. Couple of minutes later, it seemed as though I heard Murphy laughing again and I see my driver in a Maruti van. Not again !!! I get back, some higher decibel talks at the counter and got my slip for an Indica. Murphy did not seem to bother on my way back home. Maybe he found someone else :-) I enjoyed the drive back home.
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