The
Hotel
It was around 1989 that we were going to Arughat from Gorkha.. The road was
very difficult. The road was divided into two halves- one being the mountains
and the other being the river. I cannot remember correctly if it was half way
to Arughat or beginning of the river because it was four hours since we had
departed from Gorkha. We were very hungry. We stopped in a small village-market
and saw a house that looked like a hotel. We entered the house and asked a
lady, “Is this a hotel, madam? Do you have something to eat for us? The lady
standing near the burner with wooden fire replied “Yes, this is a hotel and you
can get something to eat but for that you have to wait for more than an hour”
She had a very beautiful smile on her face while replying me.
Her answer left us in a big surprise. I asked her, “Why so long? How come
just giving the cooked food could take so long?” The lady replied, “We don’t
keep cooked food since there is no certainty of the customers coming to my
hotel. When someone comes here and asks for food then we start cooking,
otherwise we don’t. This is a small village, not a city, where a small number
of customers come. In my hotel only a few people come during the day. In such
long and difficult way they get food and I get little income to feed my family
by operating this hotel.
We had assumed that we would get immediately after placing the order. We
were starving. We had no food since we got up early in the morning to start up
our journey. Any way, we managed our hunger and kept patience. I asked the
lady, “Ok you can start cooking, but remember that we are starving. So please
get ready as soon as possible.” After placing the order we sat on the bench
which was hardly standing. That was too old. The lady started the preparation
in front of us. My friend started telling the jokes related with travelling to
pass the time until the food got ready. It was necessary too to be distracted
from the painful hunger. We tried to enjoy the panoramic view but our empty
stomach did not allow to do so.
I saw many wage workers walking along the road with heavy loads on their
back. I got very upset seeing the wage workers carrying heavy loads on their
back all the way from Gorkha to Arughat. I imagined if roads were better
constructed and vehicles were available nobody would have to carry such heavy
loads in such terrible mountainous road. But at the same time I thought that
they have managed to stay home by carrying the loads and working hard anyhow.
They are not far from their family. They are with their friends and community as
well. All the day they carry loads but they have peaceful time with their own
people when they get back home.
My friend and I both were trying to engage ourselves in various topics to
keep our attention far from the hunger which was burning our stomach. Although
we were trying to engage ourselves in talking we were asking each other as well
by body language that when the food is going to be ready.
The lady was concentrating in cooking. All the stuff were scattered around
the burner, it made the kitchen look filthy. The clothes the lady was wearing
were very dirty and smelled bad. Her nails were long and inside her nails dirt
was filled up. The water bucket was uncovered. Those dirty things were making
us to think that how to eat the food which was going to be ready. However, when
we started eating the food we were utterly shocked because the food and the
dirtiness never occurred in our minds. The terrible hunger made us to think
only about filling the empty stomach and forget everything. We were fully satisfied
with the food. After taking rest for a while we started our journey.
But while getting back from Arughat we had no chance to go to the hotel and
see the lady. That was due to our group which consisted of some people from
Arughat and they requested us to try another hotel with other taste.
After six months I got a chance to go to Arughat again. This time I was
travelling there alone. I got company of a carrier who did carry loads from
Gorkha to Arughat. I was afraid of going alone there because the way was not
familiar to me. I might get lost. Being habitant of flat land I had no
experience of hilly ways.
I had to eat something in the way
because I had left Gorkha with empty stomach. I stopped in the same small
village-market where I had stopped last time. Standing in a place I started to
think which place would be appropriate to eat something. In that course of time
I got myself concentrating in an old house. I stepped up to the house. I
assumed the lady standing near the house must be familiar and I had seen her
before some time. Approaching near to her I asked “Madam, six month before,
when I was going to Arughat I had come to your hotel and had eaten up the food
prepared by you. Didn’t so?”
She replied “How dare I forget you? Is it possible to forget you? I
remember you very well. Yes, you had lunch in my hotel around six months ago.
How are you? Doing well? How is your friend who was with you at that time?”
I got confused for a moment. Looking at the lady’s face I said “It is your
job to remember every customer’s face. It is your business policy to keep track
of old and new customers. The greater number of customers you know the greater
amount of profit you would have. That is why you never forget the persons who
come to your hotel.” After saying this I waited for her reaction.
After listening to me the lady got upset. She told me, “Why do you think
so, Sir? You think that our love for customers is for business promotion and
increasing the profit only. If this is your believe then you are completely wrong.
Once we build the relation we maintain it forever. This practice is not for
promoting the business we are in but for enhancing the friendship. Business
transactions do not connect people. The feeling of faith, love and respect
connects people. We value good relation not the money. To make more money it is
better to go to Mugling, the big market place. If you have new business idea
you can be richer in short period in Mugling, people say so. Now, Mugling is
considered as main hub to go to Kathmandu from nearly all over Nepal. But people of this village and its soil never
allow me to go somewhere else because they fascinate me than money and wealth.
Time went on; more than twenty years have gone by since then. I saw the
lady in the hotel in her village on my way to Arughat. Nowadays I live in one
of the richest countries in the world. Just couple of hours ago I went to a
fast food restaurant and bought some spicy chicken sandwich to kill my hunger.
It is not necessary to see someone to place the order in the fast food
restaurants in the modern world which is equipped by an advanced technology. I
just approached near the speaker which is outside the restaurant and said,
“Three spicy chicken sandwiches, please.” After placing the order I went to the
delivery window. I gave my credit card to pay the bill. A salesperson took my
credit card and swiped that up in a machine and returned that to me. That
salesperson gave me the sandwiches. I hardly saw the face of the salesperson
because the window was covered with glass except a whole which was made for the
transaction. Through the whole process I remained in my car, I chose drive
through to buy the sandwiches because that was easy instead of going inside the
restaurant. To complete the transaction process everything was done in a
mechanical way. There was no exchange of emotion, sentiments and feelings
because there was no person to person contact.
My car is running on a very busy highway. I am flying. The speed of my car
made me think as I am flying. I am driving and I am thinking too. I am thinking
about the modernization which has made us like a lifeless machine. Our life
starts and stops when the on and off buttons are pressed. The time, the
modernization, operates our on and off buttons. It has only increased the
profit of the business but not love and affection. It never connects people.
Now, at this point of time I am remembering the lady who I met in the hotel
when I was going to Arughat from Gorkha. I am remembering her love and respect
for me, for all the people. There are so many cars in front of me and behind
me. All cars are compelled to fly like an aero plane by the time, by the
modernization. People inside the car, I am thinking, are machines operated by…
Bishwa Raj Adhikari
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