WAH TAJ

EXPERIENCE

                My mom’s birthday falls on 22^nd September. This year she completed golden jubilee, so to celebrate we decided to visit Taj mahal hotel in Mumbai. As every good thing has some glitches my exam was scheduled on 22^nd so we postponed our program to 30^th September.

                                             

                Let us go directly to 30^th Sept instead of wasting time in telling you that how I faced my exams in thinking of the Taj. I, my parents and uncle aunt met at CST station at around 5.30pm. The weather was never so perfect. No clouds, sun was waving bye to Mumbai. We boarded BEST bus to reach Gateway of India. In that journey of 15-20min we saw many glorious and ancient structures of Mumbai. We reached our destination in couple of minutes. You see three marvelous structures in one go. The Gateway of india, The Taj mahal Hotel and Shivaji Maharaj’s Statue. As my aunt has visited Taj many a times so she knew much about the layout of Taj. So we need not have to search for anything. There are 2 buildings of Taj ,the new one and the old one. Old building has 7 floors which is pre dominantly for meals etc and the huge Taj next to the old building is for lodging and boarding which is of 22 floors.          

                We entered the taj and the first impression was splendid. Everything inside was as lusty as gold. We obviously took out our cameras and started capturing the richness and beauty inside of taj. We bowed down to the memorial of the martyrs of 26/11. That day still brings Goosebumps of fear. It was very horrifying night for the whole country. After spending some time experiencing the elegant parts of taj we decided to give the elegance to our stomach too so we went to “Sea lounge” section where we have munchies. Taj has different sections like roof top, shamiyana, sea lounge etc. Specialty of sea lounge is we can view the mammoth sea; it is truly a wonderful sight. There were cushions near the window but it was for 2 people only and we were 5. So fortunately and unfortunately with some disappointment went to the chairs a bit far from windows. The cushions were very cosy and comfortable. There was a buffet so we started tasting different items one by one.. I don’t recollect the names as I was very much interested in eating than reading. After spending half an hour of conversation in family we observed the weather outside turning gloomy. Something wrong was there in the dark and in next 10min we got our doubts cleared.

                There were 4 window panels in that room facing the sea. One of them flanged open with huge noise of wind and rain. The glass mug, plates fell down into pieces which were kept nearby to the window. We were just sitting on our couch & viewing the horrifying scene with awe. A waiter ran towards the window and closed the window. The staff called the housekeeping to clean everything. After 10 odd minutes another window opened with loud noise and this time the water particles with wind reached us. We left our table with panic. There were other customers who joined us. The staff requested us to stay out of the room in the passage. All these scenes reminded us of the terrible night of 26/11. The din of wind and clatter of windows were very horrifying. We waited near the staircase and discovered that even Taj’s ceiling leaks. So I have forgiven all the construction builders for their leaky structure now.

                One manager came to us and escorted us to ground floor in “Shamiyana ” section. It was very beautiful as name suggests. We came out of the panicky stage. Staff told us that this has happened for the first time in last 40 years. So somewhere I am very happy for witnessing the incidence. We spent some time and had tea coffee and asked for bill. To everyone’s surprise Taj didn't charged us a single penny. The bill amount was Rs.7500/- which is not a less amount. They proved again why they are so prestigious and number one hotel in our country. Their motto is customer satisfaction. Actually the calamity was natural, it was no one’s fault but as we as in taj’s customers faced inconvenience so according to them their customer was not satisfied so no reward.

                We came out of taj and hired a taxi to reach CST station .The environment was actually much tensed. Trees had fallen over vehicles, blockage of water, traffic, fire brigadiers and police helping the city out etc. After seeing all this we understood that during the mishap we were in the safest place called

“THE TAJ MAHAL HOTEL”   

Author's Note

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Reviews

[Solar]

What comes across is the resilience of the hotel and its staff in dealing with the storm damage and its customer service being paramount. The reference to 26/11 is in the background which makes it even more poignant.