Thursday, May 22, 2008

Marriott Hyderabad's Clean up Drive

On my way to office every morning, I pass the Marriott hotel that is located at a junction just before the Tank Bund begins on the Secunderabad side. Until recently, before the Marriott group took it over, it was the Hotel Viceroy. After the takeover some things seemed to have improved. Now safari clad security guys at the main entrance check cars thoroughly using mirrors, and a dog sniffs the boot and other places of the cars entering. A lot of Marriott’s own cars are parked in front of the main gate. Opposite the main gate across the road is a compound wall of a graveyard. This wall is used as a urinal by everyone including the drivers of all the cars that come to the hotel. However, yesterday I saw something very refreshing.

Now, peeing in the open in Hyderabad is a very common thing. You can see guys everywhere taking a leak in the open as if it was the most natural thing to do. Since the Marriott is a huge hotel with a large compound wall at the back, guards patrol the back to watch out for such offenders. However, they were not able to do anything about the wall opposite the main gate until yesterday. Someone in Marriott must have thought that enough was enough and something ought to be done about the wall turned urinal.

I saw a team of around thirty or forty Marriott staffers in their chef’s caps, aprons and overalls on a cleanup drive. While one team was brushing away the dust from the compound wall of the graveyard in front of the main gate, another team applied a coat of paint on it. Maybe they didn’t want their guests to witness such dirty scenes. Whatever their motive, it was a good thing they were doing. They went about the job of cleaning and painting with an earnestness that was surprising.

I was also stuck by the fact that they didn’t call the press to cover this occasion as many such establishments are wont to. There wasn’t a single cameraman of the numerous television channels in sight. I guess they wanted to do it without calling for attention which was really laudable. Whatever it was I thought if every one in Hyderabad felt the same way we’d be having a much cleaner city.

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