Incredible India: A Close Shave at Koenig Inn

Air ran out of the taps

The backstory to the vivid picture of me in a bathrobe with shaving foam all around my ears and over my head is that as I was shaving I ran out of hot water completely.

This was at just a few minutes past 7:00AM and barely a week after I was told hot water will be available for 24 hours at Koenig Inn.

Things had in the space of just a day moved or generally acceptable to precipitously untenable with no Internet access overnight and then this.

As the water then began to trickle out of the tap I used my hand cloth towel to wipe off all the foam and then had a hand cloth wipe in the place of a shower.

Meanwhile, for whatever reason after the staff came up to see the problem, there was a leak in the bathroom, I went down for breakfast and gave my key to the staff not returning to the room as I left for the training centre.

The new Internet Policy

I could not wait to get out of the Koenig Inn this morning to start at the training centre where I hope no construction firm had inadvertently dug up the cables again like they allegedly did a few days ago.

A new notice had appeared on the wall in addition to the many notices that we have to read, this one might well add insult to injury – whilst I appreciate that the provision of free wireless Internet service comes at a cost for the training centre and the abuse of it for other purposes is not fair, it is one thing to have a poor service and quite another not to have it at all.

Nowadays, we select hotels for the simple reason that wireless Internet is available and free; much as one would expect that a training centre of the calibre of Koenig Solutions will not impose extortionate costs on access for purposes as voice chat (Skype) since being far away from home is partly compensated for with the ability to communicate affordably with friends and family back home this might become a core consideration in choosing this training centre in the future.

If anything, the new Internet Policy is a radical disincentive, a service downgrade and an unfortunate development, especially after last night.

Conversely, I think I am now reading the sign clearly; it reads - "Welcome to India"

The faucet apothecary

Water throw-ups

There was a period of about 10 years when I could not drink water without falling sick. One time, I was offered pills at a clinic with a glass of water and promptly threw up the whole thing in less than five minutes.

You cannot imagine the after-taste of bitter sick aided by pills that usually have to be sugar-coated to be ingested in the first instance.

Now, I can handle sparkling water quite well whilst still water makes me quite uncomfortable.

Beyond washing out my mouth with tap water, it would never go down my gullet, however, boiled water for tea or coffee is fine with me.

Water in the bottle

A few weeks ago, we had this entire rumpus about bottled water being immoral, now, there might be scientific or environmental studies that support the view that bottled water is not environmental sound, but when it gets hijacked by activists, anarchists and carbon Nazis, I suddenly go deaf to it all.

Then there is the view that we are wasting money and environmental clout on bottled water when tap water would suffice – that might be good for some, but how do I get the sparkle into my tap water? I definitely would not be doing D-I-Y (Do It Yourself) sparkling water – that is completely out of the question.

The faucet chemist

Just as one ventures toward the moral faucet of holy water, news comes to us from the States that Americans are subjects in a seeming homoeopathic drug trial of antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones.

It appears their tap water contains traces of these drugs, that is not to say that some bottled water that is just the repackaging of tap water does not contain traces, if tested for specific pharmaceuticals.

Traces and homoeopathy

I used the word homoeopathic earlier to highlight a worrying situation that we would be told to ignore considering scientists do not believe that homoeopathy has any efficacy.

Some people have benefited from homoeopathy to various extents where medicaments are diluted to a point that they are scientifically untraceable before being administered in treatment.

Advocates contend that water has a way of memorising information stored in it at one time no matter how much it is diluted – science contends the dilutions make the homoeopathic remedies no better than placebos.

I would say homoeopaths have not offered conclusive proof and scientists are testing within the framework of ideas and laws that may not explain to the best possible extent of knowledge available to man why homoeopathy is efficacious to some users and benefactors and not to others.

Curative water supplies

However, back to the stream of the modern faucet, if tests are able to detect with such assuredness the presence of pharmaceuticals a lot higher than typical homoeopathic dilutions, what is to say many are not already self-medicating through tap water to deal with bacterial infections, epilepsy, depression, sex alteration or erectile dysfunction? Perish the thought.

But with the price of drugs in the States, you can drink in New York what would fill you with heart medicine, infection fighters, oestrogen, anti-convulsants, a mood stabiliser and a tranquilliser.

Choose your city

The city of brotherly love would cuddle you with medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems, in fact, 56 pharmaceuticals or their derivatives.

You will never have a fit in Southern California and gender adjustment might just do fine in San Francisco – no allusions to realities there.

If you happen to live in the following cities of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Austin, Texas; and Virginia Beach, Virginia, there is nowt in the water, you need a new water board.

It is safe, they say

Before we get irrationally hysterical, we are told that all these supplies meet all federal and state standards for quality of water – which might mean standards have to be raised and some more exploratory tests need to be conducted to ascertain what comes to all in drinking water.

Meanwhile, when I sing in the shower, I might just wear a shower cap over my lips to create a new type of sound, this type of water pollution; which, it is, without any shadow of a doubt; is not confined to those across the pond, apparently.