The trip that easily could have not been - Part 3 of many

An eventful lodging experience

I have never been in a backpacking hotel. Let alone a shared accommodation of more than 3 residents in a room. And never spent a night with 5 strangers and never believed I ever would and come out enjoying the experience.

I met a couple of interesting people – a guy from Spain and a girl from Australia. Both have come with the objective of visiting India but have made no concrete plans and are traveling basis suggestions of friends made on the way. What was even more interesting was how the girl had described her being in India. “I do not know what I’m doing here. I have been here for the past two weeks. One fine morning I just picked up my bags and booked my ticket to Delhi. With only one thing in my mind – I want to spend the next six months in this exotic land.” Enquiries about my travel plans started by then and I could notice myself brimming with enthusiasm as I described my plans for the next few days. She was excited as well to know that Ranthambhore was so close and it was perhaps the best time to spot tigers in the wild.

She had gone pub hopping the previous night, had come back dead drunk and was still recovering from a bad hangover and headache. After deciding to watch a movie with her friend she said “Excuse me while I get dressed”. I got the shock of my life when she brought her hands near her hips. “Shall I wait outside, while you get dressed?” I enquired. She nonchalantly brushed me off remarking “I’ve lived most of my life since 2010 in backpacking hotels. This isn’t new to me” and casually slips her pants off only to change into another one. To hell with modesty. I quickly averted my eyes to look at my laptop and tried to look intelligent and busy. And indeed there was some work to complete that day. There was even a call at 10PM. I must have been a major disturbance that night as I had to keep the light on till 1 in the night. It took a request to turn the light off from the Australian girl for me to realize my mindlessness. The politeness of her enquiry only embarrassed me further. This was followed by repeated calls from my uncle and client folks the next morning. Everyone was asleep and I’m certain that these calls would have woken them up. I had no place to hide my face.

More importantly what interested me was the economics of my stay there. Both from the end of a backpacker and from the end of the hotelier. I was charged a modest 400/ night and the amenities included a single bunk bed in an A/C room, free wifi at more than decent speed and the invaluable experience of meeting interesting people from across the globe. I was comparing this stay with the PG I used to stay in in Delhi. I was charged 10,000 per month. The room was ventilated with a fan and an air cooler during summers. There was no way to regulate the cold during winters. The biggest positive was food all 3 times in the day (Breakfast, lunch and dinner). If I were in Zostel at that point in time I would have shelled out 12,000 per month while I would have needed to manage food on my own. I would probably have spent 5,000 every month on food but it would still have been worth it. Also, I got to understand there were steep discounts for repeat lodgers upto 30% (Bringing the rental expenditure down to 8,400 per month). Of course there would have been days when I would have abhorred the company I was expected to adjust to but overall I believe the experience would have been worth it.

Consider the economics of the hotelier. It was a 3 bhk apartment with a total capacity of 24 beds. Each bed would give them a maximum revenue of Rs.12,000 (400 x 30) every month. Assuming a 50% room occupancy they would be earning Rs. 1,44,000 every month from the apartment. Assuming a rent of Rs. 30,000, an electricity bill of Rs. 5,000 and cleaning services costing Rs. 5000 for the apartment. The minimum that the hotelier stands to gain is Rs. 1,04,000 every month. If there are 2 managers working 12 hour shifts at a salary of Rs. 30,000 per month, they stand to finally make Rs. 44,000 per apartment. All this at 50% occupancy. And every 1% increase in occupancy rate earns then ~Rs. 3,000 more. The venture was on the whole sounded very alluring and intelligent!

The trip that easily could have not been - Part 2 of many

 An amusing first leg of the journey

I wanted to pen down my thoughts and emotions as soon as I stepped out of the flight. My moods swung from being irritated, annoyed to disbelieving and finally amused. In short an incredible flight journey. I took the AirAsia from Bangalore to Jaipur and from the time I went to the boarding gate found the atmosphere too funny. The scene at the boarding gate resembled one from a local bus stand with people carrying bags of all sizes and shapes, shouting at the tops of their voices on the phone and feeding hungry and angry children. Usually at such places I have to put up with an overabundance of quiet solitude where all you see are faces immersed in expensive electronic equipment with not idea of whether the neighbor was a human or a goat. I wouldn’t call the scene a welcome change but a diametrically opposite one.

As expected, all seats in the aircraft were taken. Thankfully I did not see anyone holding onto a seat using a handkerchief. But I did have to suffer in silence an impatient gentleman who kept poking and prodding me at the back with his sharp pointy fingers. My mistake was to keep a respectable distance of 1 foot from my predecessor in the queue. At one moment I turned back to give him an earful but restrained myself and successfully prevented him (through a calm word) from drilling a hole in my back. I reach my seat to find someone sitting in the window seat I had checked into. It was an old lady and her daughter was sitting in the middle seat and the aisle seat was empty. To ascertain whether they actually hold the tickets for the aisle seat I politely mentioned that they were occupying my seat. The daughter quickly offered me the vacant one saying “It’s okay. You can sit here”. I felt irritated just a bit before realizing that probably this was the first flight the old lady was taking in her life. And naturally she wanted to make the experience extra special. Sleep was my agenda for the entire duration of the flight and the seats looked comfortable enough, so I calmed down almost immediately.

The time for the flight attendants to show us the safety measures had arrived. It was one of most lackadaisical displays I have seen. The act of pulling the thread tied to the oxygen mask to release oxygen was completed at least 5 secs before the lady could announce its usage. And again while denoting the passage to exit doors in case of an emergency evacuation. The attendants were all quite young. They must have just graduated from college. And clearly not cut out for the job. Their movements were too quick and lacking the easiness of professionals. Their attitude a little too carefree and their chins were facing upwards just a tad too much. This inference of mine was further reinforced when I saw one flight attendant pushing a man into his seat. Although I would probably say the action was called for. This was just after touchdown and what a smooth landing it was. At almost the exact moment of the wheels touching down, an idiot gets up, opens the overhead locker and removes his bag. Naturally, the attendant was pissed at this behavior. He rushed straight at the idiot, grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him into his seat and swiftly locked the overhead locker. The passenger deserved a slap at the least for this atrocious behavior. All this was happening while the announcement asking passengers to stay rooted to their seats until the flight stopped was going on. I get annoyed when I see people who can’t understand and act as per simple instructions. Like for example, when I see someone jumping a queue. I feel an urge to slap the idiot, give them a dressing down and make them start at the end of the queue.

But this was not an isolated incident. There were more of similar stupidity. Like almost everyone wanted to talk to people three rows before them and simultaneously at that. It was an absolute ruckus and more than one fish would have been sold, I’m sure. I woke up a million times because of the noise. Hollering infants were also aplenty. It is ofcourse not out of character for infants to holler. But I did find it intrusive and incredible for mothers to decide to walk them down the aisle instead of trying to calm them sitting in. I wouldn’t have minded it if they did not knock my hand off the side rest thereby waking me up. The scene at the time of deplaning was no different. Even when everyone in the queue knew there was no way to exit as the plane doors were still closed people tried to steal ahead of their neighbors. I firmly resisted one chaps advance and a sharp glance sideways at him made him stop his advance immediately. Of course there is no doubt that these chaps must have gone to some school or the other. But education could not teach them common courtesy. If this is how our country is in the 21^st century after almost 70 years of independence I cannot begin to imagine how the Englishmen arriving on our shores in the 17^th century would have experienced. I now probably understand what made Churchill call us uncivilized savages.

While, I say all this, I must also mention my experience with quite a few of such men and women. They have a lot of positive virtues. Enough to overlook these blemishes, appreciate them and even take them up as role models for better living. And that is where I do not appreciate Churchill for his comment. It is this realization that amused me and by the time I reached Zostel I was thinking back on the events of the day with a slight smile.

The trip that easily could have not been - Part 1 of many

 An uncertain start

It was the first time that everything had been planned well in advance. When I say everything, I mean everything – the flight tickets to and from Jaipur were booked, the travel by train to Sawai Madhopur ticketed, the overnight stay at Jaipur reserved, the resort at Ranthambhore arranged and the safaris were paid for. All we had to do as Praveen mentioned was to get our asses there and have a good time.

Everything went smoothly or so I perceived. There was no hiccup expected. I had also mailed Tanveer informing him of my absence for the last week of April. Tanveer had joked “Why do you have to send me that? As far as I see it, both of us will be out of this project by then.” It was not to be. There cannot be anything called a smooth passage to your vacation as long as you work here. Once I had withdrawn a trip to Sri Lanka a year and a half back. Some petty reason it was. As it has always been. I do not remember that now but I do remember it being a silly one. I also remember me buying into the reason. I genuinely believed my being there was going to shape the world into a better place. I was young in the corporate world. I still am but a little bit more wiser to understand it doesn’t matter. All the more so at my level.

The next planned vacation also had met with a lot of resistance. This time the reason was a little more stronger or at least I felt so. I even jokingly told my then manager that if he continues to throw a spanner in the works, I will have no alternative than to put in my papers. I was naïve. I didn’t know better back then. Resignation wasn’t a thing to talk about in such a casual fashion. Atleast not invoke it as a threat. Another lesson was learnt. But the trip did go as planned. At least the dates of travel did. The rest of the trip was planned on the fly. We reached Ahmedabad and decided to structure our vacation as we saw fit and we enjoyed it very much. Each and every one of us.

So, as I was saying, Tanveer called me on the weekend before to open a conversation about a meeting scheduled for the following Friday. And that was bang in the middle of my trip. I hesitantly reminded him my plans. What pissed me off was not him mentioning my being the only resource on the project, thereby the need for my taking the responsibility. I was well aware of that. But the fact that he nonchalantly remarked about how my plans had totally slipped his mind. I almost “Wow”ed aloud. The rest of the conversation was him explaining his storyline for the deck and my saying OK. Frankly I don’t think I heard a word of what he said after “totally slipped my mind”.

Come Monday. We meet up and Tanveer casually asks me as to whether I had cancelled my arrangements for the trip. I said no and I wanted to discuss that with him. “Good. Because the meeting has been postponed by 2 weeks. You can go ahead now”. And that was when my mind became light again. The worst part is that I was worried and angry not because of what Tanveer had said on the weekend but because of a thought kindled by a conversation I had with Pranay. He always asks the simplest questions in an easy and frank manner. And there is no escaping the burden of truth these questions brings. “Before you put your foot down and tell Tanveer I am going to Ranthambhore come what may, are you sure that you are not thinking of canceling you trip and sacrificing it for some meeting?” enquired Pranay. “Are you worried Tanveer may give you a bad appraisal just because you do not cancel this trip? If that is so then it is a blot on his managerial abilities and not you”. Well we’ve all heard of the good that showing the mirror to someone brings. I think this was precisely that moment. The bugger had read my mind perfectly and asked me the most pertinent of questions. I got a little angry on him but didn’t obviously show it on the phone. I have never been that guy who gives people frank opinions. Two more of my oldest friends have done that to me in the past and I’ve loved them for that. Guess now Pranay adds on to that list. But more importantly these questions from Pranay also raised several others. Realization over what made me angry came later. Have I become a corporate slave? Have I bought into this nonsensical idea that work comes before everything? What made me unsure of myself and hesitate when reminding Tanveer about my plans? Am I not entitled to the 2 days off after working my backside off for the better part of 2 years, letting 10 days of paid leave lapse and with 39 possible leaves available at that exact moment in time? Is this fear of saying no going to continue forever?

I was finally thankful that the opportunity didn’t arise for standing my ground against Tanveer over this trip business. I did not want to create an altercation/ scene where at the end of it, the plan is cancelled and the deck is prepared grudgingly. I worry a lot, yes. Maybe more than necessary and maybe for things which are not worth worrying so much about. And I postpone my decisions a lot, unwilling to catch the bull by its horns and ultimately react to situations than be proactive. This has resulted in a lot of irritation in the past. I have lived with it. But, the need to change this is imminent and I know so for a fact. I also am confident that this will most definitely be the biggest impediment in my path to success. But my ability to procrastinate and delay the necessary wins almost always. But anyway things did turn out smoothly for a change and I am now here at Ranthambhore recounting the incidents of the past few days and the invaluable lessons learnt over its course.