Return to India - The Hotel

My hotel serves a wonderful buffet breakfast but I discovered something even better at the suggestion of Dorja, the doorperson who greets me warmly every morning. She asked me if I would like to try an authentic Indian Masala Dosa which can be made spicy or plain. Feeling adventurous I picked the spicy one and in a few minutes it arrived warm from the kitchen with three little mounds of chutney. One was ginger, another was coconut, and the third was a tomatoe. Inside a thin, crispy crepe wrapper are peppers, onion, potatoe, curry leaves, seeds and a few other things I can't identify. This has become my favorite breakfast food and I really have to get the recipe before I leave. I told Dorja how great it was and she seemed pleased. The following day nobody was at the front desk and I had the regular breakfast bar. When I went to leave Dorja was back on duty and asked "no Dosa today?" I jokingly replied that she wasn't there to get it for me and she looked troubled. A few days later the other greeters were falling over each other asking if they could bring me one. Evidently I made an impression, hopefully positive. Dorja laughed and said "I guess you know we're talking about you". Everyone here is so friendly it's a bit disconcerting.

The hotel hosts a day spa which people can join whether they are staying here or not. There is an indoor pool, changing rooms, massage and spa services, and a well equipped exercise room with treadmills, exercise bikes and both free and machine weights. A personal trainer is available to help and I found him excellent. The equipment is from Sport Arts Fitness and seems state of the art although it took me awhile to get used to metric measurements for weight and distance. My colleague and I both tried to make exercise a priority this time and I'm feeling great. Unfortunately I have not yet found time for a massage but will before the trip ends.

The hotel is competing for business with much larger luxury hotels like the Taj Krishna and Novotel, so they are trying really hard. In most cases they do very well but we have had a few disappointments. In a previous post I already mentioned the lack of dual format power plugs, if you stay here remember to bring converters. Internet access in the hotel is spotty. Wireless signal is very low and the cable port in my room didn't work at all. They assured me they would fix it the next day but the technician discovered he had to pull new cable so they moved my room. The new one worked fine with only a few DNS hiccups in the mornings. Our laundry used to take a single day in the Novotel, here it takes several. Both of us had issues with the furniture in our rooms, a cabinet door came off in my hand and my colleague's office chair lost its hydraulics. We had problems with our drivers earlier in the trip, this was the first time we ever had that problem. It was probably due to the fact that this isn't a premier venue. On Friday morning nobody arrived at all despite telling us that there were at the entrance. The substitute driver dropped us off on the fourth floor of a parking garage attached to a building that was under construction and we had to walk the rest of the way on foot in traffic. We complained and things seem to be getting better. Despite a few problems I find this hotel much less antiseptic and a lot more personable. I'll stay here again next time.

I have to be careful on this topic so apologies for the lack of detail. The team spent several days working through very tough technical issues on our project. I'm really impressed with them and we're learning to work together well. We had to deliver a difficult and nuanced message to our business customers on a late conference call last night and it went as well as can be expected. Overall progress has been very good and the knowledge and cooperation of the team here is great. As always the project will have its twists and turns, ultimately we will deliver and succeed. We always seem to get through somehow.

Thanks for listening