INTERESTING ENCOUNTERS ON BANGALORE ROADS

ADIDAS SHOWROOM
This one was too good. Since I knew that I would be hitting Ooty and rains the next day, I thought of picking up something warm to beat the chill. I bought 2 garments from the showroom.I noticed staff was looking at my India map on my t shirt with lot of inquisitiveness.
the manager too came out and started talking. I got a chance to speak about my purpose and it became like a small speech with other guests too listening.
and what I got was Best wishes, discounted bill ( with one item not charged) and I gave one of my OneindiaOnetaj t shirt to them. it brought smiles at everyone faces..

SMILES AND MORE SMILES...
The common man likes different things,a decked up car with messages bring in smiles on people's faces. The people in Tempo were noticing our car fir quite a distance and we were going behind them slowly, since it was heavy traffic. lot of waves, smiles and when we were about to go in opposite directions, they all waved and shouted "OneIndiaOne Taj"That was very sweet..
For the first time, I thanks to the heavy traffic of Bangalore !!!

THE GATEWAY HOTEL BANGALORE 8TH JULY 5 PM

We were there at The Gateway Hotel at 5 pm. The staff spoke about their thoughts on the incident, how they work like a family and what differs Taj from others. Enthused, Evoked it just just hit the right chord. great messages of support were written in message book and Mr Walson the General manager did have few words of encouragement and his hotel's message of support for this journey...

The Bangalore was done and I was looking forward to go up the Nilgiris and hit hotels in Southern India. Time just flies when i look back its 20 days of driving but its been just amazing...

TAJ RESIDENCY BANGALORE 8TH JULY 1 PM

This hotel was our base in Bangalore. We reached late for press conference, thanks to Bangalore traffic but Mr Saleem Yousuff, the general manager was there, very passionately handling and fully involved. Thanks to him, we had a great media interaction with loads of inquisitive questions hurled at us. But yes, we were ready to sell our purpose, our mission, The great Taj and its philosophy and more important, our message of peace.

This was followed by an almost full house town hall where we Rahul and I interacted with staff sharing our experiences on road and about our journey. Lot of people came to me with their messages of good luck, support and wishes for Taj Mahal Mumbai employees.

A great experience...

TAJ WESTEND BANGALORE 8TH JULY 10 AM

Our next stop was this 20 acres hotel, Taj Westend. With beautiful landscaped gardens this is truly a tribute to the garden City, Bangalore. Mr Arindam with his team of Hods and staff greeted us with applause and joined us in spirit, for our journey for peace. As we spoke about the purpose and the Spirit of Taj, more and more people got involved. We also went to the cafeteria to have a chit chat with staff. Some great interaction with associates and I could feel the bond of togetherness amongst hotels and employees strengthening.. Great. This beautiful hotel is worth a walk around to experience luxury amongst nature.

KUTEERAM 8TH JULY 8 AM

Knowing Bangalore traffic, we started at 6 in the morning for Kuteeram , 1 hour drive from Taj Residency. After crossing the city, the drive to the hotel was as if you are driving in Goa. We were surprised to see this 10 room small resort on the outskirts of Bangalore. Serene, Peaceful, Rustic, Calm; just perfect. The slight drizzle and cool breeze added to the whole experience.

No better place to talk about togetherness and peace and we did this with lot of zest with the staff their. They were fully involved and the whole experience there, was like a fairy tale.

We had one of our best breakfast, hot appams and stew as we spoke about our love for Taj with Chadra Mohan the manager of the place and chef.

A place worth visiting if any one is in Bangalore.....

VIVANTA BY TAJ , 7TH JULY 5 PM

Long 10 hour journey and we reached Vivanta by Taj at Whitefield ITPL. A good looking modern contemporary hotel and we were thrilled to see this new entrant of Taj Hotels which is different..

Addressing all young staff was a treat since they related to the incident and visibly i could see they were getting enthused once i was talking about Taj Hotels, its values and greatness. Mr Ajit the general manager too gave an encouraging speech with words of support for our fellow associates in Taj Mahal Mumbai.

ON THE ROAD MEETING COMMON MAN..

1) ROADSIDE INCIDENT
we were cruising on the highway and there werev 3 safaris following us for good 50 kms. At the next crfossing we realized that the person in the safari was local MP since he was having a rally there. This gentleman comes out of his Safari and knocks on my window to talk to me. I was in 2 minds whether to lower my window or not since there was this fear of just being bullied..
to my surprise he asked me about the car and where i was coming from. He was keen to know about the drive and kept asking me loads of question. Finally he said," How is Andhra Pradesh treating you and If Andhra Pradesh can do something for you," I was surprised by this gesture but was happy that he got connected somewhere...

2) AT RAILWAY CROSSING

This gentleman came out of his car and wanted to know about the map put on my car. Very enthused by the whole idea he had an opinion on peace and what needs to be done?

.