My first Outdoor Catering [ODC]

Part 1 of 3...

In the first year, perpetually short of money, someone suggested the idea of participating in outdoor catering(ODC) to make some pocket money during the Christmas vacations. By volunteering I got a gig in a prominent hotel in Trivandrum, along with 2 of by classmates-Sobi & Anand K There were a couple of others too, but I am not sure. I remember Sobi & Anand because they rescued me on New Year 's day, the last day of my ill fated sojourn . Will tell that story later.

So, when the rest of the college went home for the holidays, we reported for the 10 days experience starting before Christmas till just after New Year 1993. While Anand went into the Kitchen, Sobi & I was in F&B.The first few days we were put to use in the restaurant .We wore our F&B uniforms and spent the time doing whatever was asked of us. Mainly treated as cheap labour, we didn't really mind, the experience of working in a 'Star' hotel and of course the money at the end of our assignment providing the motivation. I discovered the secret of making Lemon Tea here. My easy method was to make Tea with Milk and then add a squeeze of Lemon juice to it. In the darkness of the restaurant, I couldn't see what I was drinking, but it tasted funny & not as awesome as I thought it would. One day the housekeeping opened the thick drapes of the restaurant windows and I had a glimpse of the dubious concoction I was making.... I stopped making my 'special' lemon tea that day !

In bored leisure time during the afternoons watching the very 'well fed' GRE at her desk through the restaurant door, provided some excitement.The fact that the GRE appeared to be a confidant of the Hotel owner made it feel exciting & dangerous that we were drooling over her. You can imagine the level of boredom in our lives when you realize that we actually didn't mind the oily stuff served as food in the staff canteen, & hung around in food breaks to watch the interesting people working in the hotel, our first experience of a Star rated property.

After work we usually got off work at around 11-11.30. I seem to remember that I used to be the only one taking the 11.30 night bus till Kovalam. If I missed this bus, then the next option was to wait for the Vizhinjam bus coming in at 1.30 am from Ernakulam. One day instead of waiting for the 1.30 bus I decided to walk, taking the then newly created byepass road. It was one of the scariest walks in my life.

Since the road hadn't been completely tarred or inaugurated, there wasn't any bus service or vehicles passing through it. There were no street lights and for about 2 hours I walked in pitch darkness. The road was slightly elevated above the swampy fields around it, and as I walked, an occasional bare light bulb in one of the few houses appeared floating in the distance, always remaining out of reach inspite of walking a lot, then suddenly appearing behind me. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could make out the contours of the road for about 100 metres ahead. There was the goosebumps inducing sound of things moving in the bushes on either side, keeping pace with me, sometimes moving ahead and stopping till I reached their point and then rustling in the bushes along with me, but always in the black bushes located on either side beyond the road surface. All sound felt amplified, & my footsteps sounded loud. I kept on telling myself to stay calm, its probably only street dogs in the bushes. Each time the rustling sounds overtook me and stopped at some point in the bushes ahead, when I passed these bushes, the rustling would start again. In spite of my telling myself that there would be a rational explanation for the phenomenon, the hair on the nape of my neck, arms and legs would stand up in a primeval response to danger. Even though I consciously willed it not to, my hair continued to rise and invisible little tingling cold fingers ran up and down my spine and my arms & legs. Though I couldn't see the road, I could feel it beneath my feet. At one point the tarring hadn't been completed and my loud footsteps went quiet. The tension doubled now. I could hear every little sound in the still night air. There wasn't even a hint of a breeze blowing. The faint outline of coconut trees were still, without even the slightest stirring of their leaves.

As my fright grew, I realized that I had come too much ahead to turn back, and now the only way was forward. I couldn't run for fear that whatever it was in the bushes could move faster than I could. Occasionally when I stopped to listen to the stillness, I ballooned, that is like a balloon tied in one place, I kept moving in a slow motion circular spin, watching and listening all around. Never standing still in one position or place for long, fearing my back was exposed and unprotected. At one point when the tension of listening and watching became too much, I did the only thing I could to relieve the tension - I sang!! 

In the pitch dark still night air, my voice seemed loud and reverberated in my head. Not complete songs, but a medley of the 2 lines of every song I knew. It was a reassurance to myself that anything following me would know I was alert. After walking along in this fashion for a very very long time, I could see the distant glow of Sodium vapour Street lights. The bright yellow lights created a pink glow in the sky. I kept doing the ballooning more frequently now, 'cos I didn't want to be taken down so close to safety. About 100 meters away from the pool of the first street I realized the rustling sounds had stopped. Either whatever it was, had decided that there was no point in following me anymore, or, it was crouching in the last bit of dark bushes to pounce on me. I RAN! It would be more accurate to say my feet flew. I am non athletic and lazy, but that run was faster than any Olympic sprinter could dream of. I could hear only my feet pounding the ground and my own deep laboured breathing. Once I reached the safety of the street lights and main road once again, my dry mouth and all out sprint left me retching. 

I continued on my journey. By then I had decided, never again! The longing for human company in your misery is also a centuries old instinct. Let alone human, there wasn't even a street dog on the road. I was desperate to see another human being. About 10 minutes before I reached the turn to the house I stayed at, I saw a human form ahead, on the opposite side of the steep road connecting Vellaar junction to Kovalam junction, wrapped up in multiple layers of clothes. Glad at finally finding human company I increased my speed to catch up. This figure appeared to be moving faster as I neared. I put this down to my imagination. The relief at seeing another human being gave me a burst of energy and I ran across the road. As I drew close the figure looked more like a lady wrapped up in multiple blankets Just as I reached abreast of the person, gasping from running uphill, she turned to me cowering with both hands shielding her head and cried out in malayalam, "Enney onnum cheyyalley" - Don't hurt me. 
My first feeling was of embarrassment, of appearing like some monster to her, in my eagerness for human company I had forgotten how a total stranger running towards you at 2 am in the night would appear to her. Embarrassment was followed by hurt, that she could actually categorize me with some criminal. After my own frightening experience, the fact that I was the cause for frightening somebody else was very unsettling. Without saying a word, with mixed feelings I crossed the road to the opposite side and hurried on my way. Shortly after, I reached my room in Bethany, Kovalam. The next day my landlord-local guardian Roy Uncle gave me a dressing down, for the walk through what he called dangerous areas.