Skip to main content

Are you single? Then no room for you! — My unexpected Matheran story

By Pankti Jog* 
“Are you single? Then you can’t get a room… not just in our hotel, madam, but in any hotel here. Sorry!”
Imagine hearing this a day before your trip—how would you feel? Angry? Shocked?
Why on earth should a single traveler be denied a room? Can’t someone travel alone?
You feel like throwing a hundred questions at them… but then you realize you’re standing at the airport, and the hotel manager has already hung up the phone.
Well, I made another booking. Anyway, this was a spontaneous trip, not something carefully planned. So I told myself—maybe it’s fine if this plan too gets canceled!
But I had to find out why “singles” aren’t allowed rooms. So, I looked up the number for the Matheran police station and spoke in detail with PI Sonawane.
“Madam,” he said, “what can I tell you… in the past four months, there’s been one suicide every month here. And all of them were single travelers. So hotel owners decided not to give rooms to single people anymore. They don’t want their hotels to be associated with suicides.”
After a long conversation, PI Sonawane agreed that however serious the problem, banning single travelers wasn’t the solution. He spoke to the hotel owners himself. Later, both the police and the hotel called me back:
“Please come, madam. No problem now! We’ve made a rule that every single traveler’s details will be shared with the police station.”
But that’s not really a solution either. What difference does it make if the police have your information? How would that stop someone determined to take their life? Under the name of “safety,” they’ve created this illusion that the police must have everyone’s details.
And it makes you wonder—why would anyone go to a beautiful place like Matheran to die? Yet it happens. It’s a sign of growing mental fragility in our society. Our elders lived through hardships and scarcity with grace and laughter. But we—when faced with small setbacks, sorrows, or shocks—start thinking of ending it all.
Maybe that’s the real issue that needs addressing, not the idea of a “single traveler.”
---
*Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Can free‑living Indian street dogs teach us about how to care for pet dogs?

By Daniel Ramp, Kapil Vishwas Patwardhan, Rosalie Chapple  We give our pet dogs shelter, veterinary care, affection, training and play. We decide when they eat, where they sleep, when they go outside, who they meet, and how they move through the world.
Post a Comment
»

Grain vs. gasoline: How the global biofuel boom threatens India’s food and water security

By Rajiv Shah  A new report published by the international research and advocacy organization GRAIN has warned that the global resurgence of biofuels is triggering a dangerous dynamic of “more fuel, less food, more land grabs.” Driven by intersecting energy security concerns, geopolitical tensions, and aggressive decarbonization mandates, the expanding agrofuel industry is increasingly pitting corporate energy interests against global food security and indigenous land rights. 
Post a Comment
»

Sikkim governor row: ALIFA asks centre to explain hurried appointment in Ankita Bhandari case

By A Representative   The All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA) on Saturday expressed “immense pain and outrage” that even after four years and a national uproar, justice has not been fully delivered in the Ankita Bhandari murder case and that a ruling party politician facing allegations has been “gifted a high-ranking constitutional office.” In a statement, ALIFA extended “unflinching solidarity” to Ankita’s parents, who it said are “fighting for justice on the streets of Delhi,” and demanded that pending the CBI inquiry and judicial decision, the appointment of BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam as Sikkim’s Governor be subject to “immediate presidential review.”
Post a Comment
»