Last Legs

We left for Mysore in the morning. I was not surprised that there were several hassles with the Ginger Hotel as they tried to reconcile the bills. Several people were stuck for a long time arguing with the hotel about their billing. The hotel staff themselves seem extremely nice and apologetic. However, their systems are a mess. I do not understand why all the accounting items cannot simply be posted in a single online record for each room. They have multiple written folios and have trouble transferring data from all the folios into the online system. A complete mess.

Our bus ride to Bangalore was relatively uneventful except for a disaster lunch location. We found out that no clear arrangements had been made for lunch and we automatically appealed to Mr. Dwarkanath for help. He spoke to the drivers who recommended Hotel Ramanashree (three star) or Hotel Taj West End (five star). I was leaning towards the three-star hotel when the guide insisted that it was too far and inconvenient and that we should eat at a local Hotel Kamath. I clearly told him that a key requirement for a lunch location was clean restrooms. He insisted that Hotel Kamath fit the bill. As you may imagine, I have rarely seen a worse restroom in my life. It was beyond bad – it was sickness inducing. Absolutely outrageous. Luckily the food was pretty good and we left there relatively unscathed. The group was not really in the mood to do more sightseeing and after a walk through the beautiful Lal Bagh gardens, we headed to the Ginger.

The bus stopped briefly in front of Manipal Hospital and almost threw me and my baggage off the bus before proceeding. I found my way to Lalla periappa’s house from there. I went for a nice dinner at Bombay Post for some beer and great chicken seekh kabab.