How may I help you saar?? or Have a good day!!

If you have ever stayed in a hotel in India (though I haven't stayed in a lot of places in India, I think what I am about to say is seen in almost all places), you'd have observed the way the people who work there treat you. They wait on hand and foot. They have a bell boy take you up to your room. I've seen that even the cheapest of hotels have a bell boy out here.

It was a stark contrast when I landed at a hotel in Texas. The only person working in the hotel that I interacted with was the receptionist. She booked me into the hotel and gave me directions to find my room. No waiting on hand and foot.

But what I realised when I showed myself to my room is that there were plenty of boards directing me. At a hotel in India, we hardly have sign boards. If you let a person go find his room all by himself, chances are that he will not find it till the end of ages. Things surely are so much more organized out there in America.

People there might seem very impersonal, but you never need to interact with any one on a daily basis. Things seem to be taking care of themselves. It might seem like a very bad thing, cos there is no inter-personal relationship. But I think it is better for a girl, who stays alone out there in America, to depend on the proper sign boards, rather than a person to get around.

But, no matter how impersonal people might seem, they are ready to wish even strangers a good day ahead. You come out of an elevator and see a person, voila, "Good morning!" or "Have a good day!" is bound to be heard. Try something like that here in India, and you are assured to get dirty looks and a lot of snickers.

Why is it so difficult for us "people persons" to wish a stranger to have a good day ahead? This is something that I will never understand. There have been so many instances when I've smiled at some one in the hallway at office, only to get back a strange look. But there was one instance when I was appreciated for being cheerful (:D folks who know me, will know who I am talking about :D) and this comment surely has become one of the most unforgettable moments of my life.

I'll need to put that into the list of things that I may never understand, and go on with life (like I have any other choice).

Solitude !!!

I'm sitting here, all by myself, in a foreign land, in complete solitude. This is a feeling that I had never experienced before. Gives me a lot of time to reflect on the little things of life and the major obstacles in life too.

Back home, I never realised how 24 hours sped by. And now, the same 24 hours seems like it goes on forever. Never thought that so much work could get done in a single day, and still have time for myself.

If only everyday could be like this. Solitude bliss!! :) or would that just remain another one of my wishful thinking.