Travel Tales: Fairmont Hotel - Jaipur

This year, valentine's day was special. This year, unlike every year, there was a work conference on the most hyped day of the year. We were headed to Jaipur, the Pink City. I was a little disappointed since the year before the same had been held at Goa(and I had missed it) and people had not stopped talking about it. So as excited as I was about Jaipur, I wished we would have gone to Goa instead.

But all thought of Goa or any other destination flew out of my mind with one look within the mammoth gates of our hotel at Jaipur.

We had been put up at the Fairmont Hotel. There stood a majestic elephant, decorated very royally, awaiting our arrival. Just beyond the gates, there was a lady dressed in Rajasthani clothes to welcome us with a "saffron teeka". 

As you are about the enter the hotel, you can hear some very melodious Indian classical music being played. It wasn't a recording - there was actually a musician who strummed a sitar right at the entrance...!

Given that this hotel is part of a global chain, I was quite taken aback by just how authentic everything about the place felt. What was remarkable about the hotel was how they are integrated technology into  an architecture which was completely inspired by the Mughal dynasty. The lifts and rooms operated on swipe cards which also added a sense of security to the guests housed there. 

The staff was dressed in Jodhpuris, spoke impeccable English and gave us all the most amazing customer service experience throughout the two days there. 

Sharing some photographs of the property so you can see what I am talking about.

What I especially loved were the little little things that they had done - the paintings, the lights in form of "mashals", very artsy looking lights that had been installed all over the property. 

Being a book lover, I especially loved the library room...!I managed the time to nestle myself in the cozily appointed reading area with "A Walk to Remember". If my stomach hadn't rumbled, I am pretty sure I could have been there overnight.

The Le Meredien was right next door and believe me, they are going to face some very serious competition. A sneak peak at the Meredien next door:

The Fairmont hotel has a motto of 'Turning moments into memories for our guests'. On their website, they also claim to offer experiences which are authentically local and genuine hospitality through engaging service and attention to detail. 

Believe me, they do. Every single word written there is actually something that can be noticed and/or experienced. Am a total fan - unequivocal. The two days spent there were one of the most memorable days of my life. It definitely sets the bar very high for future conferences to follow.

I hope I get an chance to go back here again...! 

The Proposal: Part 4 of 4

The night had been a surprise for both the sisters.

At midnight, as the new year begun, Rahul had asked Zara out. A very shocked Zara had agreed. 

Ashish had intended to ask Naima to be his wife that night. He had prepared a full speech about why she should marry him. It had taken him four days to just get the start right. If he would have known how the moment would actually unfold, he would have put in slightly less effort.

As Ashish and Naima had walked towards a secluded corner on the terrace that night, he revised his speech one last time. As he had gone down on one knee, Naima had gone absolutely still. But before he could actually mutter a word of his well prepared speech, Naima had shrieked with delight and agreed to marry him!

Even today, that memory managed to calm her frayed nerves. 

Though Naima had been quite sceptical about counselling, it had helped. Whenever she felt low or emotional, she thought back to the happy moments in her life. 

Not surprisingly, a lot of them were with Ashish. It was difficult to take him out of the picture. Over time, she had begun fixating on that particular trip to Bangalore. Sometimes it was what followed that trip. First, there was the crazy phase of her wedding preparation. A year later, she was busy making wedding arrangements for her sister.

She had been so happy before that fateful night four years ago. 

Just like it did for every woman, her life had changed when she was expecting her first child. She now knew in hindsight that she had been too preoccupied with being pregnant. After the arrival of her darling son, she had gotten further engrossed. She had forgotten that Ashish still needed her. Maybe that was how she possibly had no idea that Ashish had been under a lot of stress.

Had she known how stressed her husband was, Naima would never have insisted on meeting Zara and Rahul that night. Since no one was in the mood to cook, the men had volunteered to get some food home. She did not understand, in hindsight, how she let the men walk out with her toddler. Her little angel had just started walking and every time someone went towards the door, he got up and hobbled towards it.

The men were at a crossing, waiting for the signal to turn red when Ashish had received a call from work. He had lost a lucrative contract to a competitor firm a few weeks back and the same firm had got the contract for a bigger job this time. In some very subconscious reaction, he must have let go of his little one’s hand during his call and before he had realized, a speeding car had rammed into his son.

After a two hour long struggle, the doctors had declared his son dead. Naima was distraught. She refused to let the doctors take the baby off life support. She just stood by the crib and talked to her little one as if he was sleeping. After a day of this, Naima had been hauled out of there by Ashish.

Ashish refused to leave her side even though she did not acknowledge his presence. Naima had been admitted in the hospital after she collapsed during the funeral. She refused to eat, drink or even meet people. Ashish had kept apologizing but she had not responded to him.

After Naima went home, things got worse. It had never been this silent. They had gone for counselling. He would have really liked Naima to show some emotion - cry, laugh or even hurl some abuses his way. But she had mourned her son by herself completely shutting out her husband.

The doctor suggested having another child but Ashish did not take to the idea. He just did not trust himself anymore. After six months of no response from Naima, he had walked out. He called to check on her but the two never exchanged words. The last call had come around two years ago after which he had moved to America.

She had agreed to start looking at men for a second marriage just so her parents wouldn't worry about her. There had been some heated words between the sisters when she had agreed to a second marriage instead of getting back with Ashish.  

It did not take long for her to realize that everyone just paled in comparison to the man she had married the first time around. She had even started considering how to approach a possible reconciliation but had not been convinced about it till today. 

This advertisement could not just be a coincidence. As loopy as it sounded, Naima took it as a sign. Zara could have easily missed it, but had not. For some reason, she had assumed his whole family had moved to America. At least his younger brother Ashwin was still here. She would get in touch with Ashwin and take it from there.

Four years was a long time to look at every possible mistake and alternative reaction. She should have been there for him. She had done nothing to assuage the guilt he must have felt. They both had lost a child. She had made a couple of mistakes the last time around. She should have handled things differently but now she knew better.

As Naima continued to gaze out of the window, she felt her sister come up and stand behind her. Just one look passed between the sisters and Zara knew Naima had made the decision she had always wanted. They sat together as Naima dialled the number without having to look at it.  

For the first time in many years, Naima felt hopeful. As a familiar voice answered the line at the other end, Naima knew she was going to get Ashish back in her life again. 

The Proposal: Part 3 of 4

'Can I please sit by the window’, Zara inquired.

Seeing that Zara and he had been talking all the way upto their seats, Rahul had assumed that the gentleman in question would move to the aisle. Of course, he did not. Wasn't the universe supposed to conspire to help him achieve his dream?

The energy he had gathered from the time Zara arrived at the airport until the time they entered the airbus, all went pop in one second. Even though Rahul had silently started counting backwards from fifty in order to somehow get a grip on his emotions, he was far from relaxed by the time he was done.

He wondered what Gaurav would have said if he called him right now. Possibly, something glib like patience is the key!  Yes, that sounded wise enough.

As they buckled themselves into their seats, a subtle floral fragrance wafted towards him.

How does this happen to me, Rahul thought to himself as he felt the tightness around his chest melt away into insignificance. She is a whole seat away and the fragrance was making him loopy in the head. Giddy with delight was one way to describe how he felt, but the whiff of her fragrance somehow made him feel a little positively towards getting off at Bangalore.

Naima and Ashish just could not believe what they were seeing.

‘He just is not getting a break today’

‘Do you remember that time when I asked you out? That opportune moment had come after 4 days of having decided that I liked you mister. Each day, I used to be all charged up about asking you out on the way to college and decided it was hopeless on the way back home. I don’t envy Rahul one teeny tiny bit’

‘I know from a dependable source that you had a crush on me since the welcome party. That was a good month away from the day you asked me out’, Ashish replied with a goofy grin.

While Naima and Ashish playfully exchanged notes about their week at work, Rahul had plugged in his ipod and had reached a state of calm by the fourth song in his playlist. He did not notice the glances Zara threw at him whilst the music worked its magic on him.

He looks so peaceful, Zara thought to herself. She was almost certain Rahul was a little taken aback when she asked for the window seat. Looking at him now, she felt fairly certain that he hadn’t felt even a bit weird that she had chosen the window seat.

But she had no other option.

She had a massive crush on Rahul. Worse, Ashish had figured it out. And just to prove him wrong, she had taken up a bet to not sit alongside Rahul on the flight today. There was no point in letting anyone know about her stupid crush. Naima had told her that Rahul was interested in someone. What good what it do? What if Rahul got to know, got uncomfortable and distanced himself?

Zara knew the four of them would pretty much be stuck together for the trip. She hoped there was plenty of booze at Zubin’s. If the twenty minutes at security were anything to go by, she was going to need a major distraction to survive his dimpled smile over the extended duration of the next four days.

Ashish glanced to where Zara was sitting a few rows ahead. As he noticed Zara throw  another glance at Rahul, Ashish giggled to himself. He felt like the devil. Rahul was going to kill him after tonight. Zara was obviously going to say yes, but he just decided to make his buddy sweat a little before that.

If Naima could keep secrets, he would have definitely told her. But she couldn’t keep anything from Zara - the two were thick. He still didn’t know why Zara had kept it from Naima. He had not asked and she had not voluntarily offered any explanation.

Tonight was going to be a night of revelations.

To be continued...

The Proposal: Part 2 of 4

Women and time possibly had an agreement to never get along, Rahul thought to himself as he dialled Zara’s number for seemingly the hundredth time. Zara should have been at the airport at least thirty minutes ago. How can one always estimate time wrong?

He had given her a wake-up call at 4 am. Even then, he had to call her seven times till she actually picked the phone. She better show up in the next fifteen minutes else they were going to miss the flight.

Just as he was about to dial Naima, his phone beeped. So she was stuck in traffic. As real as the reason may be, it is a convenient excuse for those having difficulty with punctuality.

Breathe in, breathe out. We are headed to a holiday. And not just any holiday – he had been waiting for this since six weeks now. The six weeks since he had realized that he was in love with Zara. The trip just wasn't going the way he had thought it would. 

With his patience in short supply, Rahul decided that the situation warranted a call to his agony uncle - his self proclaimed ‘worldly wise’ friend.

‘She is late. Again’

‘It is your mistake to expect anything different. If you had started out expecting a delay, you would be a happier soul my child’

‘Don’t make me regret calling you man. I need some pep talk before she shows up. I was counting on the journey together giving us some time alone. In my current state of mind, the lone journey won’t do me any good. If I don’t scream at her, I think I would label it achievement of the day’

‘In the interest of humanity, I shall try my level best to show you the silver lining. There is plenty of liquor here and some really interesting looking people in case Zara turns you down’

After a few lines of encouragement from Gaurav, Rahul hung up. As Rahul pondered over the last few weeks, he realized that Gaurav could possibly write a book on the things he had done to make an impression on Zara.

‘I have informed the staff of our little situation. The lady at the counter seemed to completely understand our predicament’, Ashish said as he walked up with Naima in tow.

As they waited for Zara to turn up, Rahul couldn't believe this trip had finally begun. Considering how fast the last few months had flown, the last six weeks had been a drag.

Naima, Ashish and Rahul were from the same college. Ashish and Naima had met at the makeshift bar at the freshers welcome party. What started out as idle chat, lasted the entire duration of the party. Their friendship had naturally evolved into a relationship despite the three years that separated them. 

Rahul was the brother Ashish never had. Rahul had met Zara at Naima's graduation party a few months back. He could not recall a time before he met her. It seemed like he had known her forever. All mushy romantic songs suddenly began to make sense. His ipod was a testament to his emotional state - Richard Marx to Atif Aslam, all crooned to him, sometimes more than multiple times a day.

Luckily for them, a profusely apologetic Zara showed up under the next ten minutes. As they rushed through security, Rahul tried to remember why he was pissed at Zara. One smile was all it took to wipe his emotional plate clean of the distressed forty five odd minutes.

As they were headed to the boarding queue, he saw Naima turn and give him a wink. It had been abundantly clear to Naima since the day they had first met, that he was taken by her sister. Over the next few meets, even Ashish realized just how smitten a kitten he was. They had teased him quite mercilessly about it. 

They were also aware that he was going to ask Zara out tonight. 

After security, Naima and Ashish were to conveniently disappear in a coffee shop. Zara hated coffee. So did Rahul. That would have left Zara and him alone. As a rehearsal, he had even tried his speech on Ashish...! 

With her delayed arrival, all their planning had gone awry. 

It would be fine, Rahul consoled himself, just as long as this trip doesn’t have any more surprises.

To be continued...

Angry Birds: Part 2 of 2

Why this topic caught my fancy is that very recently I was involved in a little skirmish with ‘Fashion & You’ on twitter.

I had ordered a set of cushion covers for a birthday gift sometime in mid August. September came and went and there was no peep from them. No intimation about where the consignment was, whether the shipment had even been dispatched, nothing. When I followed up with them towards the end of September, they said four to five weeks delivery time was standard.

In this day and age of around 3 days delivery time from online shopping portals, four to five weeks seems criminal. But it was apparently mentioned somewhere in the fine print, so I had no cause to get annoyed with them.

Come mid October and I was still awaiting the cushions. After a few failed attempts to get a response from their customer service number, I was thoroughly peeved.

I had been hearing so much about consumer complaints getting a better response on social media, I decided to give it a try.Twitter worked. Although I had to keep chasing them for a response, my money was refunded back to me on the last day of October.

But after reading about the arrest of Mr Ravi Srinivasan, I went back and re-read my tweets!

I don’t think I was rude. I was irritated, disappointed and thoroughly pissed off. But I wasn’t rude. It was a pre-paid order and I really wanted to know what the heck was going on.

With the massive reach of social media, I can clearly see why resolving an issue on social media is important. But why would an organization respond to an irate customer on social media and not to a consumer complaint on another medium? Just doesn’t make business sense.

Though personally, I have not had much to complain to Vodafone but to my knowledge, the Vodafone India twitter handle is quite particular about resolving consumer complaints quickly. And even they were not so amenable to ‘social’ feedback till some time ago.

In June 2011, Vodafone India sent a legal notice to Dhaval Valia, who ranted about its 3G services on Facebook, asking him to take down the ‘defamatory’ posts. Dhaval, who used to be a Loop Mobile customer before, had switched to Vodafone in April to use its 3G services. However, it was not available where he lives, contradicting Vodafone’s claims.

The notice asked him to refrain from making any comments against the company and also remove the posts in 48 hours.

In reply, Dhaval had mentioned his plans to initiate consumer and criminal cases against the company, questioning the methods Vodafone had used to trace his updates, since he had posted them in a private environment.

Post this, Vodafone Essar withdrew the notice in good faith. They further went on to say something to the effect of - “Vodafone Essar would also like to take this opportunity to inform that as a customer obsessed organization, we have always welcomed critical feedback and suggestions from both direct and social media customers as it helps us to constantly improve ourselves to serve their discerning needs”.

I wonder who instilled this ‘good faith’.

Was it Facebook who realized the extent of access given to Vodafone was going to be open for all to see or was it Vodafone realized the PR nightmare this was about to become?

I understand the need to exploit this mine of personal information people so readily share on social media. There are marketing businesses built on top of the idea that third parties can get access to data on social networking websites. But what exactly is the extent of privacy that we are guaranteed when we post/tweet about something?

We all know that Facebook tracks our behavior while we are logged on the site. How many of us are aware that the tracking continued even when we log off?

In 2011, Facebook was involved in a scandal regarding this breach.

Facebook admitted that it had been watching the web pages its members visit even after logging out of the site.  The social networking site was forced to confirm that it has been constantly tracking its 750 million users, even when they are using other sites.

Facebook said that the huge privacy breach was simply a mistake - that software automatically downloaded to users' computers when they logged in to Facebook 'inadvertently' sent information to the company, whether or not they were logged in at the time.

Really? Inadvertently? I really don’t think so.

On checking the changes in ‘privacy policy’ made by Facebook on 11^th May 2012, I came across some rather interesting points:

• If you comment on something public, your comment will be public      
• All of the things you do and share on Facebook may be used to target you with ads
• Facebook may retain your data for extended periods if its subject to a legal request or obligation, governmental investigation, or investigations" into violations of Facebook's policies

This is certainly a wakeup call to be cautious about the use of social-networking sites. It's more public than you may think at the time you signed up for the hype. 

It would be wise to remember that the Internet never forgets. I am surely going to be careful while exercising my freedom of speech and expression.

Angry Birds: Part 1 of 2

Once spoken, words can't be taken back.

We see the impact of thoughtlessly used words around us all the time. And we know from observations in our daily lives that when someone is hurt by words, they do not forget them easily.

Social media has provided people an additional platform to express themselves. And while ordinarily, the sense to be careful with your words should have extended to the social media, it does not seem to have.

And what surprises me is that there seems to be a quick punishment for expressing without any forethought or premeditation.

Very recently, I came across this case when a tweet from an Indian landed him in prison!

On 20 October, Ravi Srinivasan posted a tweet to his 16 followers saying that Karti Chidambaram, a politician belonging to India's ruling Congress party and son of Finance Minister P Chidambaram, had "amassed more wealth than Vadra".

Karti Chidambaram did not take the tweet in good humour and filed a police complaint on 29 October.

They arrested Mr Srinivasan early next morning, charged him under Section 66A of India's Information Technology [IT] Act, and demanded 15 days of police custody. Pondicherry's chief judicial magistrate declined remand and granted bail.

That was some quick reaction from the police!

While Rahul Gandhi is not on twitter yet, for all those tweeting, even in jest, about Robert Vadra and the Gandhi family, should really think twice henceforth…:D

This made me look back to a few more episodes caused by the twitterati.

Many people of international repute have been caught in the harsh light of twitter scandals. The types of scandals in which they have been involved, cover a wide range of types. They include nasty comments, intimate photos (mistakenly or otherwise) sent to the public.

The incidents affected the people involved in various ways. Apart from public humiliation, while some have been sued, some threatened with legal action, some have lost lucrative advertising deals simply by virtue of being careless with their words.

Take the case of the recent London Olympics help this year.

Greek triple-jumper Voula Papachristou made history July 25th, 2012 as the first Olympian to ever be banned from the games for a tweet.

She published a racist tweet, stating “So many Africans in Greece. At least, west Nile mosquitos will eat homemade food.”

Within 3 days the Greek Olympic committee issued a statement deeming her social media content “contrary to the values and ideals of the Olympic movement.”

The athlete was officially banned from competing in the upcoming Olympics due to her tasteless tweet. Papachristou even apologized but the 23 year-old athlete has not managed to win any sympathy since her open criticism for her punishment as “highly excessive.”

Michel Morganella, a Swiss soccer player, made an inappropriate statement and described South Koreans as a "bunch of mentally handicapped retards”. It was something he said in the heat of the moment. And though he apologized later, the damage had been done. The Swiss team sent Morganella home.

Morganella was the second athlete of these Games to cost himself a place on his team for his racist and unsportsmanlike tweets.

Stephanie Rice, an Australian swimming star found herself in deep trouble after a remark on Twitter after the Australian football team, the Wallabies, won a game against the Springboks in South Africa.  She called the South African team, ‘f**gots’. This is regarded by many as a term of abuse against homosexuals.

Rice lost a lucrative sponsorship deal with Jaguar. She also had to give up the Jaguar car that she was given by the brand…!

Does it occur to you that there is a steep price to pay for just a few loosely stated words? What we consider as a freedom of expression and our right to voice our opinion, could land us in trouble if we are not careful about just how are thoughts are communicated.

To be continued:

The Proposal: Part 1 of 4

This is absolutely funny, Zara thought.

So not only were employers looking at education as criteria for screening, prospective grooms were too! Tier 1 B School? Really? Had I known this, I would have definitely studied harder for my entrance exams!

‘Zara, listen to this’, her mother said with mirth in her eyes.

‘Tall, thin, fair, beautiful girl wanted’, her mother read,’ for a tall, broad, fair, handsome boy’.

Zara and her mother burst out laughing. All ads read the same. It was as if they all wanted the same girl and apparently, for the same boy!

‘This one looks good’, her mother said and handed over the newspaper.

So this fellow was obviously confused. First engineering, then law and then an MBA. Most parents saw highly educated when they read a lot of alphabets following someone’s name. But this education seemed confusing to say in the least. There was no correlation in the degrees pursued.

Zara’s parents were very liberal and they had willingly accepted when Zara had brought home Rahul. They did not belong to the same community. But neither families had any strict regulations about religion and marrying outside the community definitely carried no stigma. Rahul’s family had not only let her keep her name, she was also allowed to follow her religion openly.

They had gotten married at the first opportune moment and the families had got married as well. She wished the same for her younger sibling. But seeing such psychotic descriptions just made her worry.

Naima was everything a boy would want. She is perfect in every sense. Yes, she was biased towards her sister. But then who isn’t ? These people who advertised clearly thought a lot about themselves. Some of the men she had met, just matched the gender from the original description. Such liars them all.

And to trust such maniacs to take care of my baby sister. Especially this one, strictly no.

As if on cue, her sister snatched the paper from her hands and settled comfortably in the chair by the window.

‘None circled this week, huh?’

‘Your sister does not approve of this one’, her mother walked over and pointed out.

‘I can see why. Apart from his salary, there is nothing else specified here…! That is so shallow!’

‘Not that one. The one below that’.

First engineering, then law and then an MBA. Interesting. I would like to know where he went for his career counseling, Naima giggled to herself.

‘He is the right age, he is educated, lives in the same city. You can at least give it a shot’

‘Di, why didn’t you like him?’

‘Just didn’t feel right’

Why doesn’t ma leave the room, Zara thought.

It is only when Naima had reached the contact details did a gong go inside her head. It was a familiar number. There was a point in time she called the number more than ten times a day. He had not changed his 'lucky' cell number...!

A shiver went down her spine as she read the advertisement again: for someone who hated studies, he had managed 2 additional degrees. He still stays in the same area, she thought and started reminiscing about the time spent in his colony.

Wonder how he is doing, Naima thought.

To be continued…