As
a person working in the social development sector, traveling forms an integral
part of my job. It is the fuel that runs my job description and achievement of
performance targets. So traveling for me is not a choice. It is compulsory! Unfortunately
I am not a typical “professional” traveling to “Corporate destinations”. The
places I travel to are usually god forsaken places and small towns that most
people have never heard about. And the experiences…. ? Well they have been
unique in themselves!
The
first time I ever traveled on work was to a remote village inside the Srisailam forest in Andhra Pradesh. I
was in my mid twenties and terribly excited about it. The organization had
arranged my accommodation inside a government “Inspection bungalow”. The place
looked picturesque with a lovely view and a clean room. I was rearing to go…! I
left for the village almost immediately after I “checked in”. I was feeling
very important as I accompanied the local field staff in their jeep to the project area. The day passed by with no major
incident.
it was only when I got back to the “inspection
bungalow” that I realized what lay in store for me! The entire building was
clothed in darkness- there was a power cut! It was going to be a “Hard day’s
night” and there was no way that I was going to be sleeping like a log! The
care taker brought out an oil lantern
and placed it on a table in my room. It
was about 8 PM and I was hungry. But Mr. Caretaker had been waiting for me to
get back so that I could tell him what I wanted for dinner. There weren’t many options and I had to
finally settle for whatever it was that suited his culinary inclination. I felt
around the bathroom for the bucket ,filled it with ice cold water, bathing in
the dark and praying all the while that there were no reptiles about !! The power did not come back until dawn. I kept myself busy through the night swatting mosquitoes and trying to blot out from my
mind all the ghost stories I had read !
The
next memorable experience was a few years later at Nagapattinam in a hotel run by the Government of Tamil Nadu. This
hotel was inside a small congested town and
one would have never expected it to be “memorable” in any way except for
the strong smell of drying fish from a
fish drying yard nearby.
The
situation began to unfold in front of me in true Tamil movie style when I got
back from the project villages at about 7 PM. There were some flashy cars
parked outside and one could hear loud
laughter coming out of the rooms. “MLA xxx Saar and his friends are here”
whispered the Manager into my ears. He was behaving like I was a spy who he had
to quickly hide. He beckoned me to
follow him up the stairs into my room. When I reached the room, he whispered “
Madam please stay inside your room. Don’t come downstairs for food. I will
serve it here”! I did not have to ask why. The strong smell of alcohol
around the corridors was warning enough for me to stay indoors.
But
nothing prepared me for the eerie experience in the middle of the night! The
room had suddenly lighted up like a UFO had landed outside. Before I could jump out and go to the window it became dark once again. I was just thinking I might have imagined it
when it lit up again for a moment before going dark. I couldn’t for the life of me imagine what the
matter was until I noticed the way the light was moving around ! It was the
light atop the lighthouse and I had the unique privilege of being in a
room that came within the arc of the
beam! The rest of the night was spent watching this light. In one of the light up moments I found that my room had
a door that I hadn’t noticed earlier. It was not the door to the bathroom. So
obviously it was the connecting door to the next room. My imagination ran riot wondering who was on
the other side of the connecting door. The latch was not on my side of the door
you see. So I dragged a huge side table and pushed it against the door with the
comforting thought that if anyone tried to enter my room from the other side I
would at least hear him!
This
is a precaution I follow in all the hotels I stay that have no latch / safety
chain on the door.
As
the years went by and development hit the smaller towns, the hotels seemed to
get better. But every once in a while I would have an experience to remember.
The
hotel CST Grand was located on a highway that led from Kodai Road towards the hills. It looked beautiful when I checked
it. It was brand new and like the “Titanic” still smelling of wet paint. The
staff were courteous and the food delicious. But it was when I got ready to
turn in for the night that I had the feeling that may be I was the only
resident of this hotel. I was not confident enough to leave my room and go
downstairs to the reception to verify if my guess was true .My room faced the
highway and every once in a while I would hear vehicles whizz past. For some
strange reason the scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” began to play in my mind. I kept the
light on all the time wondering if the curtains were thick enough to keep away
prying eyes from the highway.
There
have been other experiences that have been less sinister. The best room in the
best “hotel” in Machilipatnam had a
circular bed with a velvet coverlet that refused to come off !!! It was a most unsettling experience to suddenly
wake up in the night and wonder which “side” of the bed I was on. The room and
the bed became so famous in our office that people vied with each other to stay
there. Unfortunately it was much before the days of “Facebook” and “Selfies”! So there was no motivation to take photographs
posing like a Telugu movie heroine in a dream sequence!!!
But
despite all these, travel and accommodation in all these places have been very
pleasant experiences. As a woman traveling alone I have always found the hotel
staff to be very protective and caring! There
have been times when I have been unwell and these “boys” have gone out in the
middle of the night to get me paracetamol. I have always been served hot food
and they have never forgotten that I am vegetarian.
Many
of the hotels in the small towns today have smartened up and we have buffet
style “Complimentary breakfast” thrown in. Very often the food in the buffet is
cold as the food warmers do not work properly. But that does not affect me as I
always get my food hot and straight out of the kitchen. There are more girls
now serving food in the restaurants. I generally spend time talking to them to find out what their career plans in
the hospitality industry are. It has broken a lot of stereotypes that I have in
my mind and I am pleasantly surprised.
I
am also happy at the way that many of the hotels in the district towns are
becoming women friendly these days. They have pick up and drop to the railway
station. Almost all the “room boys” knock before they enter your room. No longer
do I find dirty plates and empty liquor bottles outside closed doors when I
leave my room in the mornings.
Organizational
policies are also becoming sensitive to
these issues. Hotels are checked for safety before women employees are accommodated
there. And thanks to these conditions I find more number of women like me
staying alone in hotels in these towns. No longer do I feel odd about myself
when I am checking in to a hotel. I do
not know if it is because I have grown older or have become more immune to the
stares.. But yes, I now understand why “Avvaiyar” voluntarily adopted the cloak
of old age.
This is a sweet story of your experiences. I learned some travel tech tips from you. I might always look at barring an unchained door with a table.
ReplyDeleteQuite an experience!!Lucky you have been that the hotel/guest house staff have been good and caring persons.
ReplyDeleteFascinating account.
ReplyDeleteAn experience indeed.
I love to read all over again.
Guess you have been not so bunny and a tough nut to crack.
Though you had a little bit inconvenience, you gained a ton of experience and a lot of pleasant memories. I envy you.
ReplyDeleteI can so very relate to this post Meera..and I must say I am inspired to jot down some of my experiences too.
ReplyDeleteA really good read Meera..
Can definitely relate to much of what you have said Meera...And definitely things are changing for the good :)
ReplyDeleteI see that you have had varied experiences by travelling into interiors of our country... Visiting your blog for the first time. Will be back again soon!
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool.. Honestly, you are so brave.. I do not think that I would have survived in such situations...
ReplyDeletePlease write more about it, like did you take any extra precautions and if those came handy under any circumstances...
ReplyDeleteIt mostly feels great going to such places and spending time especially for those who are actually into these things and at the same time ny bus tour is quite reasonable to me and majorly gives us a good outcome.|
ReplyDelete