An amusing experience at Khajuraho
Last week I went to Khajuraho for
the first time on an official tour. In
a small sleepy city our hotel is built on a huge land and looks very impressive
but it has only 48 rooms and in peak season to take care of the corporate
guests they made a VIP guest block also.
Though on tour I am allotted a
suite in every hotel, in this hotel I was put in the VIP guest block which is
very nicely made with all facilities.
When I checked-in I wondered why I was put there and was not impressed
since it does not have a good view, being on the back side of the hotel.
As I was getting late for my
meeting, immediately I went to bathroom to take bath. Unlike the rooms in star hotels, there was
a bucket, plastic stool and a mug kept which was a great source of comfort, as
in the absence of mug I always use the glass tumblers kept in a bathroom. After finishing the bath when I tried to
come out of the bathroom, I found the door locked from inside (which might have
happened on my giving a push on the door after entering the bathroom. Though such type of locks gets opened by
turning around from inside but to my scare the lock got struck up and despite
my best efforts of turning around lightly to begin with and hard later on in
panic it did not get opened. After struggling for more than 10 minutes, I
realized that I cannot get out without being rescued. Then I took a close look at the bathroom to
see where from I can call for help and to my relief I realized that there was a
window 90% of which was covered by a glass, an exhaust fitted to it and on the
top there was an old fashion wooden window which was also heavily taped because
of which it might not have been opened for a long time.
So I went close to the window and
shouted for about 10 minutes. As the
guest block was at the back of the hotel and it was in the morning hour there
was no movement and nobody listened to my shout. No phone was kept in the bathroom and I
really cursed my luck that I did not carry my mobile to the bathroom which
would have made things easy for calling for rescue. Then I remembered my pulling back my
daughters whenever I found them carrying their mobiles while going for bath to
listen to songs stored in the mobile.
Then lot of movie scenes crossed
my mind where heroine or even a child artist caught in any such situation breaks
open the glass with consummate ease. So
I picked up the plastic bucket and banged on the glass. Normally, we find in our life everything
which are supposed to be very strong turn out to be fragile and break and here
I wanted something to be fragile and break but it turned to be rock solid and
unbreakable variety and my banging the bucket had no impact on the glass (as
nothing else was there and I was not like our foolhardy heroes to break things
with hand and even in crisis I am quite
conscious of the fact that `kahi josh
mein hamara ded kiloka haath glass pe uthaliyato – phir kabhi uthane ka laayak
nahi rahaga’). The next challenge
is to reach upto the window which is at a height and I could not reach with my
short height. To my little fortune the
room had a plastic stool which would not have been there in a normal
conventional hotel room. I climbed on
the stool and stretched to the full on my toes with great difficulty reached
the small window and it took quite a time to take off the layers and layers of
tape put around the window, after which the struggle started to push it open,
luckily it was not nailed (as is done in many case especially in horror movies
to restrict the entry of Bhoots).
After lot of struggle it got opened after bruising of my hand as a
compliment and souvenir. Even after
opening of the door, I had to stretch fully on my toes so that a part of head
is visible and my shout could be more audible.
After few minutes I found one house-keeping boy coming toward the guest block
carrying my shirts which I gave for ironing – and I must admit I was never so
delighted at the sight of a fellow human being.
After spotting me, he raised an
alarm and within minutes 4-6 people from
housekeeping, engineering and maintenance departments descended panicking since VP from Corporate
office visiting the hotel for the first time got stuck up within minutes of
arriving. Though they swung into
action, the ordeal has not ended soon.
As a matter of habit in the house, I put bolt from inside on the main
door because of which they could not enter the room by using master key. The window in the bathroom is too small for
even a child to enter through that.
Luckily there was one last resort left, being a room on the ground
floor, there were two huge window glasses in the room, the beads around them
were removed and the entire glass was removed and someone entered the room and opened
the main door to the room. Despite
their trying from outside also the lock did not get open and ultimately the
entire penal has to be broke open to freed me to my and their relief. After every one moved out of my room, I had
to take bath again as I was sweating badly – this time with doors wide open. I was confirmed by the GM that after this
episode they put an intercom in the bathroom promptly.
Lessons learnt:
1. Believe
in the old saying `that everything
happens for our good’. Had I been
put in the hotel instead of VIP guest block, I really wonder how I could have
come out because they will not have windows and the plastic stool for sure, if
the room doesn’t have an intercom, then .
2. It
is after all not a bad idea to take mobile in the bathroom, even if I do not
listen to music like my daughters. (I am
sure my daughters will be thrilled by this admission).
`Khujaraho’ is very famous for
the Shiv Mandir and the `poses’ on
the temple walls. But the only pose I
will always remember whenever I remember Khajuraho is my standing on the stool fully
stretched on the toes with towel rapped trying to reach the window to shout for
help.
It also pleasantly reminded me of
my being locked up in the office the entire night in IBP as a penalty for
napping for few minutes while studying for my CS exams sitting in my boss’s
cabin. That story in the next posting
S. Prabhakar
6th October, 2012
whew . storm in a tea cup . lessons well learnt
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