The bus finally screeched to a halt by late evening. We were starving. It had been a nine hour travel, with no stops in between. The roads had been terrible, and the bus equally pathetic. All of us were suffering from backache, and we badly needed food and some sleep. We set off in search of a hotel.
We started walking along the crowded and noisy road that seemed more likely to have a hotel. Though we were going to spend the night in the house of Sanjay’s distant relative, we decided to eat outside because we thought it would be too much to expect from a distant relative.
The so-called town market consisted of not more than a couple of streets. And it was nearly empty. There were shops of all shapes and sizes, right from the vegetable selling old woman on the road to the quite big electronics shop near the bus stand. But one thing I was happy about was there were more mobile phone shops than any other kind of shop, as I was worried whether there would be network coverage in such a small town within the interiors of Tamil Nadu.
After at least five minutes of tired and slow walking, we decided that we had come the wrong way in search of a hotel. We were just about to turn back when Ketan cried out as if he had seen something very scary. Then we saw it. In the complete darkness, almost hidden from view, was a sign – ‘Hotel Ashok Pure Veg’.
We proceeded towards the entrance of the hotel. When we looked inside, there was not a single soul sitting and having food. There were a couple of waiters sitting idly in one of the tables, but not even one customer. I was having second thoughts of going in to eat, but it was Akshay who pushed us in (which he paid for dearly later). A guy passing by, noticing that we are entering the place had a look on his face which said. “Where the hell are you people going?”
The moment we entered, the waiters jumped into activity. We took the table nearest to the entrance. It looked a pretty decent hotel, and looking at the menu, it was quite cheap as well. But we decided to play it safe, and ordered a couple of parottas each. Amazingly, the food was ready within 2 minutes, and it was deliciously hot and spicy. We were thrilled, with the very low expectations we had of the place, we were more than satisfied. We ordered more, and ate till we had enough food in our stomach for at least a couple of days. We tipped heavily, and left the hotel wondering why it was deserted. We didn’t have to wait too long.
Some 15 minutes later, we reached the relative’s place. Sanjay introduced us to his uncle.
“Uncle, this is Akshay, Ketan, Karthik and Naveen.”
“Hello uncle.” We greeted him in unison.
“Hello boys. You want to eat something? Dinner is ready.” His uncle asked us.
“No thanks uncle, we already had our dinner in a hotel.” It was Naveen who replied.
“Hotel?? Don’t tell me it is Hotel Ashok!”
“Oh it was the same hotel uncle. The food was really great!” Akshay replied.
“Really? Oh fine then!” But his facial expression didn’t seem fine at all.
“What is wrong uncle?” Sanjay asked him.
“Well I don’t know how to put this. Ten years ago, the hotel caught fire and all the people inside, including the owner and the waiters were charred to death. Since then I have heard some people say they had seen ghosts at night. May be it is true then.”
We stood speechless. The first thing we did was to rush back to the hotel. But there was none. Only the ruins of a burned-down building.
We started walking along the crowded and noisy road that seemed more likely to have a hotel. Though we were going to spend the night in the house of Sanjay’s distant relative, we decided to eat outside because we thought it would be too much to expect from a distant relative.
The so-called town market consisted of not more than a couple of streets. And it was nearly empty. There were shops of all shapes and sizes, right from the vegetable selling old woman on the road to the quite big electronics shop near the bus stand. But one thing I was happy about was there were more mobile phone shops than any other kind of shop, as I was worried whether there would be network coverage in such a small town within the interiors of Tamil Nadu.
After at least five minutes of tired and slow walking, we decided that we had come the wrong way in search of a hotel. We were just about to turn back when Ketan cried out as if he had seen something very scary. Then we saw it. In the complete darkness, almost hidden from view, was a sign – ‘Hotel Ashok Pure Veg’.
We proceeded towards the entrance of the hotel. When we looked inside, there was not a single soul sitting and having food. There were a couple of waiters sitting idly in one of the tables, but not even one customer. I was having second thoughts of going in to eat, but it was Akshay who pushed us in (which he paid for dearly later). A guy passing by, noticing that we are entering the place had a look on his face which said. “Where the hell are you people going?”
The moment we entered, the waiters jumped into activity. We took the table nearest to the entrance. It looked a pretty decent hotel, and looking at the menu, it was quite cheap as well. But we decided to play it safe, and ordered a couple of parottas each. Amazingly, the food was ready within 2 minutes, and it was deliciously hot and spicy. We were thrilled, with the very low expectations we had of the place, we were more than satisfied. We ordered more, and ate till we had enough food in our stomach for at least a couple of days. We tipped heavily, and left the hotel wondering why it was deserted. We didn’t have to wait too long.
Some 15 minutes later, we reached the relative’s place. Sanjay introduced us to his uncle.
“Uncle, this is Akshay, Ketan, Karthik and Naveen.”
“Hello uncle.” We greeted him in unison.
“Hello boys. You want to eat something? Dinner is ready.” His uncle asked us.
“No thanks uncle, we already had our dinner in a hotel.” It was Naveen who replied.
“Hotel?? Don’t tell me it is Hotel Ashok!”
“Oh it was the same hotel uncle. The food was really great!” Akshay replied.
“Really? Oh fine then!” But his facial expression didn’t seem fine at all.
“What is wrong uncle?” Sanjay asked him.
“Well I don’t know how to put this. Ten years ago, the hotel caught fire and all the people inside, including the owner and the waiters were charred to death. Since then I have heard some people say they had seen ghosts at night. May be it is true then.”
We stood speechless. The first thing we did was to rush back to the hotel. But there was none. Only the ruins of a burned-down building.
