well... what's your answer? One? Maybe two? Nope.
Here is a little story from my first two days at the Peacock Hotel. I was the first one of my class to arrive. I'ts low season currently and there are ten rooms at the Peacock, all of which are occupied by students from The School of Santhi. The owner, Rathnam runs the hotel with the help of his son Bijoy. Both men are dark skinned and Bijoy has the face of a baby. He always bursts into a beaming smile whenever someone is presented in front of him. He was the first person I met when I got off the plane and out into the throngs of people waiting for loved ones at the airport in Trivandrum.
Anyway... before the arrival of Mel and the rest of the students, I had the entire hotel to myself for two days. The caretaker and cleaner is a man called Shivan. I knew eventually I'd be sharing a room and the original set up of two twin beds side by side sharing a mosquito wasn't going to uhm... "fly" with me. So before everyone came I requested for the beds to be separated and for my own new mosquito net (aka: the key feature that makes my bed a "Princess Bed") up. Besides, I had never dished out $41cdn. for anything so functional and I was determined to get my $41worth used well!
So at my request... Bijoy, his father Rathnam and Shivan landed in room #302 much like the soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandie with a mission to accomplish. Let's call it "Mission Mosquito Net". After a successful dismantle of the hotels netting there began the assembly and placement of my netting. After a few false starts it all ended successfully! My net was up and my bed was separated. It's enough of a stretch for me to share my space with someone I don't know but to share a mosquito net with a complete stranger to me is like sex on a first date... a complete no! no! thank you!
Here are some photos of the process... and if you answered: THREE! to my question "How many Indians does it take..."
No comments:
Post a Comment