It's All About Perspective

If you are ever in Kolkatta I'm not sure I can recommend the Ajanta Hotel. Of course, I'm not sure what hotel I could recommend, but that is beside the point. Just make sure when you reserve your room you specify two beds if you want them, otherwise two 6'4" American men will be shown to a room with one 6' bed to share for the night. It's OK, I suppose, as having two bodies in close proximity makes it more convenient for the mosquitoes that swarm the room. The shower doesn't work and the latches on the doors are simple gate bolts but here's the catch: There is one on each side of the door and this means that if one is an early riser such as myself, in order to fully close the door I have to lock my roommate into the room. I guess it conceivable means that a passerby could lock anyone into their room and I'm not sure what to make of that.

So secure you can get locked in your room!

The hotel compensates for such iniquities by also not offering coffee or chai or internet service. It does offer rather grand and guady strings of blue and white and purple LED lights hanging from the roof and down the front of the hotel. They emit just enough light to filter through the dirty windows and give your room a dim, ghastly glow all night. It keeps you company until about 5:00am when the sound of mosquito buzzing finally gives way to the grotesquely loud Muslim call to prayer from the mosque just a door down.

I hope my roommate and I share the same blood type as I'm fairly certain that throughout the course of the night we gave each other transfusions via mosquito. I need to remind him to get his blood sugar tested as I'm feeling a bit light headed this morning.

Mother Theresa's Tomb

It is a fairly secure hotel. In addition to the arrangement that allows you to be locked into your room with no chance of escape, the hotel also features a nine foot gate and two security guards that wander around aimlessly in the courtyard. They opened the gate when I asked and pointed me to a chai-wallah down the street where I could get my early morning dose from a dirty cup.

Of course, just a few short hours later I was touring Mother Theresa's home. She had a hard bed, a desk, and a rusty bucket to clean herself in. That puts things into a really fine perspective and yes, just in case you were wondering, I do now feel like a jerk for writing a snarky post about my accommodations.

 

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