Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Holiday Series - '100 days' in Chennai

We were so glad that we hadn't missed our flight from Pune to Chennai. But this was soon followed by irritation when we learnt that the flight was delayed by 45 mins. After all that drama! We got to Chennai quite late and went straight to our hotel. We had a lovely room though none of it registered at the time and we just crashed.

Of course, the paisa vasool person that I am, when I learnt they had a jacuzzi and steam room in their health spa and it was complimentary, I couldn't resist heading down there for a short while before retiring for the night. This, despite having been on the road since 6 that morning. After I convinced DD that he really wasn't interested in that kind of relaxation, I left a sleeping Squiggles in DD's care and went down to the spa.

It was 10pm. There was an attendant there who kindly showed me around. I don't know why, but I was surprised to note that there wasn't anyone else around in the ladies section. I had the whole spa to myself. I was quite pleased. The chap switched on the jacuzzi and the steam room and left me to it.

I quickly changed and got into the jacuzzi. As the water was gushing around me, I closed my eyes to enjoy.
*I know this post is supposed to be about why we were in Chennai but I think the digression is worth it. In any case why am I justifying myself. It's my blog. huh. How you people manage to influence me without even a word, I don't know. Anyways, let me get on with it.*

Maybe 30 secs passed, maybe a minute. There was no sound except the sound of the water bursting through the jets in the jacuzzi. And yet on its own, images from a movie I had seen at least 10 years ago floated in my mind. I opened my eyes. There was no one there. It was eerily quiet. Somehow I felt I would have felt better if there was someone else around even if it meant that I would have to share the jacuzzi with a stranger. This was a top hotel in Chennai and really I had no reason to feel uneasy.

I closed my eyes again. And the image of Madhuri Dixit, Saeed Jaffery, blood and more from the movie '100 Days' flitted in and out of my mind. If you have seen the movie, then you may remember there was a scene with a murder in a public swimming pool. Let's just say that by this point I had ridiculous visions of potential safety issues. And really I wouldn't call myself a fanciful person. But sometimes you don't know yourself.

I got out of the jacuzzi and decided to use the steam room. I love the steam room. So, I bravely conquered my misgivings and entered the steam room. The steam was thick and heavy. I could barely see anything. I groped around and found the bench and sat down. Alas, my mind had lost it. Or maybe it was fatigue. But within a couple of minutes I was worried that I would faint and die there and no one would be the wiser. Or worse, I would be unable to get out of the room because I couldn't see much. So, with a resigned sigh, I got up and left. It was not meant to be.

And this from an educated, sensible, non-fanciful, unsuperstitious person. What can you say? I'll come to the point of our Chennai trip next time.

Until then.......

3 comments:

Maggie said...

Morbid! What's with you? :-)

But wow on all the travelling you've been doing - and I've been catching up on all the pics - lovely, lovely.

Anonymous said...

Hi Squiggles mom, thanks for dropping by my blog!

I've been a regular reader, non-commenter here. Waiting to read about your time in Chennai.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.