To do or not to do

Last week I visited Coimbatore again. It is my second trip since May. I got myself booked into the same hotel as last time – standardization. It is a fairly decent hotel, very conveniently located near the railway station, with an Annapoorna restaurant and a Pazhamudhir cholai located at a very short walking distance. Difficult to find another one this good. And anyway I am the type who sticks to something if it works.

In the morning when I had my bath I noticed that the water didn’t drain fast enough and it was flooding the bathroom. I thought of complaining, yet I didn’t. I felt it is not worth complaining, and waiting and letting somebody in to do the job of fixing it. I could just adjust.

The next morning I decided to have a shower. I moved the bucket from under the tap and found the drainer under it. It was most unexpected. I felt happy I didn’t complain. I would have felt so embarrassed.

I simply assumed that the drainer would be somewhere behind the WC and didn’t care to explore. The thought that it could be under the bucket didn’t even cross my mind. Of course the water couldn’t drain with the drain hole covered firmly by the bucket.

Lesson learnt –

1. Make sure there is a problem in the first place before complaining
2. Learn to think laterally – something can be different from what it normally should be.

I put down all these thoughts while waiting at Annapoorna for my (breakfast) order of Kesari and pongal to arrive.

The Kesari arrived first. That is not how I wanted it. I expected the pongal first. But I didn’t let it bother me too much.

But the kesari was coloured yellow. It was not appealing. Still I was not going to be upset by it. I so much wanted to have something sweet. I started eating it. The rava wasn’t roasted well and there wasn’t enough ghee. The kesari got stuck to my palate. It had no cardamom flavor. The cashew nut was well cooked. On top of all this it had big lumps of rava. This was too much. I was terribly disappointed. While testing out all these aspects I had eaten nearly half the serve of the kesari. Then it occurred to me that I need not eat it. I called the ‘manager’ who took the order and showed him the big lumps still in the bowl.

I just ate the pongal and had a cup of coffee. When the waiter brought the bill I saw that it included the cost of the kesari. It was only Rs. 18 but I refused to pay. The waiter got the bill changed. I explained the issue to the person at the cash counter, paid the bill and tipped the waiter, as he had nothing to do with the way the kesari was prepared.

A second lesson learnt - Not every inconvenience or poor service need be accepted without a protest.