After a tiresome Saturday evening of Shopping and sightseeing, I hit the bed much earlier than usual. I guess around 9.30ish. While I was in deep slumber, I heard a siren go on. It was absolutely loud like there was an orchestra playing right there in my hotel room. Totally miffed I woke up to figure out what it possibly was. There is a night club right opposite to the hotel and I was quite used to strange noises and drunken shriek in the night. However this was unusual and the sound was a thousand folds louder. I managed to grab my specs and I looked at the time, it was 12:43. I opened my hotel room door to find out what was happening. That was when it hit me, that it was the fire alarm. I watched a couple rush down at an alarming speed in their bath robe. Absolutely cheesed off knowing I had to go down too, I grabbed my jacket, mobile and my room access card and headed downstairs. And yes, elevators were a total no-no during a possible fire situation. I was in the seventh floor! There were firemen on my way down who directed me to the fire exit. With no signs of fire, I was hoping that it was not a lame fire drill! In minutes I was at the fire assembly point – which was right in front of the hotel. When I reached the ground floor, there were at least around 100 people gathered – semi clad. Most of them were either in bath robes or a towel draped around them and shivering in cold and some couples wearing outfits upside down. What fear of life and death does! I glanced through each one of them with a smirk. I observed one lady screaming at her daughter who supposedly was a bride-to be; for sleeping with her fiancé. It seems it was a sign of bad luck since it was the night before the wedding. Phew! I am sure the bride-to-be never expected a twist such as this! About an hour later we were called inside the hotel. After a ineffectual speech of apology the guests were allowed to enter their hotel rooms. The next morning there was a notice at the door – The Hotel Manager’s apology for the inconvenience caused due to the false fire alarm. I couldn’t help, but smile at the note!
