I have been living out of hotels for some time now. And when I am in Delhi, I choose to stay at our guest house in CR Park. I remember the first time I came here . The address that was given to me was a place called “Park regency” and I assumed that it would be a Hotel. But when I landed here, I realized that this was a Guest house which NIIT has been patronizing for the last fifteen years. I was greeted by an Old man who requested me to sit down as he pulled up a huge ledger and made me fill in the details with meticulous care. Little did I realize then that that was the beginning of an Intense bond between him ,me and the Guest house. Since then I have stayed here many times; some short stays ; some long ones.

What is striking about this place is the sheer homeliness of it. The rooms are cosy without being ostentatious. There are couple of young boys that look after House keeping in an unintruding manner and above all, Uncleji (The old man I was referring to in the earlier paragraph, whom we all call affectionately call ” Uncleji”) whose concern for his guests is legendary in the annals of NIIT. Almost all the “Who is Who” in NIIT have basked under the affectionate care of Uncleji. Whenever I find time , I sit and talk to him , when he would recount the people who have stayed here and the fond memories that were left behind. To me , personally , I would consider this place to be my lucky mascot.

I am writing this article from the guest house. I am flying to Singapore tomorrow. I want to wind this article with an incident that happened a couple of days ago that has subtly changed my life. I was casually talking to Uncleji about how my body was not in the best of conditions and I dont exercise because of various reasons. Uncle ji promptly went inside his room and bought a Hindustan times supplement and gave it to me and said ” read this”. For some strange reason, I took the book into my room and read the article that he was referrring to. It was an interview with five of the top doctors in India and their attitude to exercises. When I finished reading it at one stretch, Something snapped with in me. Here were the busiest of doctors taking time out to refresh their bodies in Minds and I keep giving excuses. For the last two days, I have started going out for morning walks and I will continue this practice. Although I knew earlier that there cannot be any excuses for not exercising, the way uncleji pointed out this fact to me is something that has left me a changed man.

Cheers Uncleji!!!.