Too hot to handle

A trip from Jaipur to Jodhpur, with the driver and nobody else in the car knowing the way, can be treacherous especially if it is late evening. A clear sky and clearer fields with nothing but thorny bushes lining the road can only provide a scenic backdrop to the whole journey. By the time we reached Taj Hari Singh Palace hotel on a trip sponsored by Cairn India, one was tired and headed straight for dinner.

We had to hit the road again next morning for Barmer. An early bath could have taken away the drowsiness but for the mixer in the bathroom. To figure out the shower system and getting the warm and the cold just right is difficult for me even in the comfort of my house. I decided to make do with the tub option, though the environmentalist from the corner of my heart protested: “This is not the right thing in dry Rajasthan!”

Whether it is in the lap of Indian Ocean in the muggy Mauritius or the sauna in the little wooden cottage of Lehmonkari, a resort in Finland, to get the right mix is always a problem. The one in the small youth hostel in downtown Republica in Paris was the simplest ever that I have come across.

The swankier the hotel, the more complex it gets. Luxury, I guess, comes with a price and that could be in the form of complexities. I’ll try to live everything simple, I repeat it to myself every morning but as the day catches on to get the right mix is again a problem. Wonder how others to do it or maybe they don’t care. Live life full and chuck the mixer.

It is same with anger. A composed well meaning demeanor often does not work. You are taken for granted. Simple polite soul will do whatever told is in the impression that can kill your thinking and esteem. But when anger overtakes the soul, I look for the mixer. Getting the warmth of the soul and the heat of anger right is a problem. And here too, wonder how others do it. Maybe they accept things easily. Calm composed but having their way on a sly. Or they blow hot, force their way and chuck the mixer.