Typically Taj?
It was a bright Saturday evening, and I thought I would take my cousin who’s come from Gujarat to show him the tree of life – the symbolic board with the names of those who lost their lives in the 26/11 attacks because all along I had told him stories of how I had covered the attacks at the Taj back in 2008. He was obviously a bit overwhelmed at the amount of security outside Mumbai’s most iconic 5 star hotel but he and I both were extremely hurt, humiliated and shocked at what followed. Just before we entered, a security guard perhaps out of mere curiosity or heightened sense of duty asked us where we were headed. Shocked at this question, I told him inside and I thought it was over, but as soon as we entered or actually even before we entered the revolving gate of the hotel, a young security incharge named Mayur with his broken English and utter disregard for customer service or even basic decency, in a very assertive almost to the point of being rude asked us “how can I help you?”.
I certainly did not need help from a rookie security officer to “help” me around the hotel for which I was given a guided tour just days after the attacks by their PR team.
So I tried to tell him that I wanted to see the tree of life, but so much for all his training, he had no clue what it was. He said but it’s not allowed. And you can imagine how I felt at that moment. I tried to reason with him that I was merely entering the hotel and since I had cleared the security checks outside, he had little business asking me and interrogating me for my purpose of visit. I was decently dressed, I wasn’t carrying any objectionable material on my person nor had I violated any rule to deserve such a treatment.
Perhaps, as part of profiling the guests, this man thought I wasn’t affluent enough to be visiting his hotel or for any reasons best known to him. His majesty allowed us to proceed but not before telling us to finish our “tour” in 5 mins flat. In fact, he even told me that he would accompany me to wherever I wished to go, to which I refused.
Despite so much humiliation, I had to hold on to my pride and desire to show my cousin the tree of life, I proceeded inside. After we were done within just 2 minutes, I walked up to the asst. Front desk manager and told him what had happened. He was kind enough to hear me out but he did mention that the security at Taj does profile guests routinely. I believe such excesses are limited to Indians only at the Taj because even as I was speaking to him, foreigners in all sorts of clothes (or the lack of it) loitered unhindered within the enormous corridors of the Taj.
So now my question is, what gave that security person the right to ask me so many questions, profile me, interrogate me and allow me to enter only if I agreed to leave the hotel in 5 minutes? Would they have meted similar treatment to a foreigner?
I have posted a part of my experience on FB and have already started getting comments of friends who have had similar experiences at the Taj…like I said, is it typically Taj?
PS: While I wait the Taj to respond to these slightly uncomfortable (or for all I know routine) questions, here are a few links to my stories on Taj during the 26/11attacks.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=576Y8-BWHT8
https://youtube.com/watch?v=WG88va9_FjY
https://youtube.com/watch?v=HbLysXUsplY
https://youtube.com/watch?v=HbLysXUsplY
