In Durbar Hotel our first task was to assign rooms. As we were late in booking we couldn’t get rooms in the same floor. After taking care of the girls and most guys, we were left with two rooms and seven of us. Me, Sreenath, Panackal, Anand, Divakar, Kiran and Rakeshettan. We got rooms at the top most floor. The condition of the room was horrific. Really small rooms and no ventilation! They were supposed to be A/C rooms but converted later on. The workers quarters was nearby. The only breath of fresh air came when we saw a gorgeous chick walking around. We didn’t see her later though : - (.
I went to call home (the train was late by some 4 hours) as I hadn’t spoke to my parents since leaving TVM (I don’t have a cell phone). It was raining heavily and I and Sree borrowed an Umbrella from the reception. We saw a Pan shop nearby and got the urge to try pan. We did not know any thing about the varieties and only wanted something very mild. I blurted Meetha Paan and the guy made us that. We started chewing. It was very good and really sweet. But the problem was that mouth got really full due to the juices and we had no way of spitting. We ran for our rooms and the lift was not working. Murphy’s law at play! We dashed up the stairways and got to the room and grabbed a couple of mugs and spit right into it. Oh boy! What a relief! We went to the next room and Rakeshettan asked us what we were chewing. We told about the paan and our struggle to spit it. We asked what paan and we told meetha.
“ Nincompoops! Meetha paan is to swallow and not spit.” No wonder I felt nothing as I accidentally swallow some of it.
We had told the girls to get ready and they were really punctual and got out about 1 hour late. We were to have the dinner outside as the prices in the hotel were damn high. The girls, teachers and a few guys got into a vegetarian restaurant. We guys walked to a dosa corner that Rakeshettan knew. There was some rush there. Nibin and I decided to walk on find some Delhi special. He is always ready to try new things and so am I. We walked on and found the place to be a bit unfriendly and got back to the original position and ate a couple of Samosas from a shop.
Nibin knows to speak zero hindi and my knowledge is rather bookish. An utter confusion over payment and they were speaking some Kaattu hindi. In the end it was resolved and they were happy to serve us. Then we had a couple of dosas and headed back.
3 weeks ago
