*ing Melody GonsalvezAct I Scene I
...Well, well, well,
You just can't tell......
And so we reached Malaysia, myself along with mommie dearest and sister. All happy to be visiting firaang lands - armed and equiped with 'em sacrosant Dollars for our expedition hither.
We got off from the aerobridge from pintu 47 (i.e. gate 47) and gawked at the vast granite space around us...one could call the place a kingdom in its own right...airport?!!...well...
Thus happily clicking photographs and stopping for longer than necessary at the tandas (loos, darling) to admire the line of urinals and basins (each equipped with a roll of kimberly clark paper) we made our way along using all and more of the following modes of transport - the escalators, travellators, aerotrain, and 'em good ol' legs (and still took more than 15 minutes - gives you an idea of the size of the airport). En route we spied a money changer whence we proceeded to change our almighty dollars to the less mighty but more handy malaysian ringetts. Here we stumbled upon, who shall now be referred to as the Famous Family - a sister duo (quite good looking, if i may add) with there procreators.
This famous family had been on the same flight with us from Kolkata to Singapore, and from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Needless to say, Bongs in foriegn land must bond. Thus a polite conversation ensued. We were interrogated as to the purpose of our visit. We promptly replied - vacation, and politely returned the question and received the same answer in return. Coincidentally, we met them again at Kolkata airport a week later while returning where we discovered their true motive for their firaang expedition - to purchase household neccessities. We confronted them with all of the following and more - a plasma TV, a refrigerator (yes, people visit Malaysia to buy fridges - Jesus, India aint that bad a place....you can buy fridges from here), a set of matching jackets for the daughters two, new reeboks and nikes to comfort the soles along with a whole new set of bags. The VIPs and steel trunks were suitably replaced with samsonite skybags and adidas backpacks.
Anyway, niceties being exchanged in bengali, we changed some of the dollars to ringetts. Like all cautious travellers, we were carrying only half our monies on person, the rest being safely stocked in the baggage. We fared our new found friends goodbye and hurried to the tuntuntan bagasai. As most people had already claimed their baggage, the tuntuntan bagasai or baggage claim area was almost empty. Not wanting to loose the crowd, we quickly ran to the conveyor belts and providence smiling on us, saw that one of our bags was rambling along the conveyor belt, closely followed by the two remaining ones. Hurriedly we picked up our bags and made our way to the Keluar (Exit. All places in Malaysia have the Keluar clearly marked out in green, least people forget to leave)
Act I Scene II
Wake Up Zorro
Outside we were greeted by Raja, the driver provided to us by our travel agent. All the way to our hotel we were provided with a non stop commentary on the wonders of Kuala Lumpur ("In kuala Lumpur we have all the cars of the world, see there - BMW, look there - Audi") while we were close to falling asleep after the long flight. I was christened Zorro, because Rajas very un-dexterous tongue did not allow him to say 'Saurav'. "Zorro, look at the beautiful country side, Zorro, look at the huge flyovers". Zorro promptly fell asleep.
Zorro was woken up to gaze and admire at the Petronas Towers, Malaysia source of pride and joy. We gazed, admired, gawked, and took photos from all possible angles and directions till we were scared we might exhaust the entire memory stick on the tallest building in the world. (Few pictures have been provided here for yuor viewing pleasure) What I did like here was the Malaysians' diffidence in accepting that the building may soon be overstepped. Wherever you go, you will hear the Petronas Tower being refered to as the tallest building in the world 'currently'. They never drop the word currently. Nice. We still pride ourselves on the Taj Mahal - and that was built aeons ago.
Act II Scene I
We soon reached our hotel - Grand Seasons. The tallest Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Currently. We were shown to our room on the 23 floor. Room 2309. We entered and decided to first freshen up. Thats when we saw it.
We had picked up the wrong suitcase.
Mine was a blue and green bag - difficult to mistake with any other, and my sister had a rather battered brown Echolac - again distinct because of its wear and tear. Thus we had correctly picked up our bags from the tuntuntan bagasai. My mother, however, had recently purchase a Polo Club suitcase. Large and blue. It was brand new, undistinguishable from other Polo Club bags. And the model, we realized was a rather popular one. I strongly recommend you do not buy American Tourist or Polo Club bags. Half the world has them. Including Melody Gonsalvez.
And it so transpired that Melody Gonsalvez had picked our bag from the tuntuntan bagasai, while we were stuck on the 23rd floor of the Grand Seasons hotel, room #2309 with a bag that belonged to a sweet lady who responds to the name Melody Gonsalvez.
Act II Scene II
Enter Sherlock Holmes
What DO you do when you are confronted with something that doesnt belong to you, but to a rather tuneful lady. You try to trace her. The first step of the process is to find out her whereabouts.
Her suitcase was fitted with a small padlock, which ironically enough snapped open with OUR key. (Helpful Hint #2. Never buy those stupid golden locks, they open with any key) Actaually it was only now, peering into the strange contents that confronted her, that my mom realized the goofup which had taken place at the tuntuntan bagasai. We were greeted by the sight of a rather empty suitcase with the following contents -
1. A pair of used slippers
2. An empty shoulder bag.
3. A bottle of homeopathic medicines.
(Its from the prescription printed on this bottle that we realised the owner was Melody Gonsalvez, as there was no tag outside which said so - else the mistake wouldnt have occured, stupid)
4. Pyjamas (2 nos.)
5. Bra Panties and other such equipment to protect Melody's modesty.
And our loss was a suitcase stashed with my moms very best clothes and the remaining worth of our dollars.
Somewhere Melody Gonsalvez was whistling a very melodic tune.
