The Regent Hill side Resort: A house that haunts

We recently visited Yercaud from Bangalore over a long weekend. As always, we drove down to Yercaud from Bangalore. It's a 200+ km drive from Bangalore which one can easily cover in 5 hours. I would write about the trip in more detail later. For now, I feel like penning down about my bad stay experience in Yercaud. The fact that this happened after my memorial stay in Taj Exotica Goa; made it look even worse.

We stayed in an old residence, converted into a hotel named "the regent hill side resort". The holiday turned out to be a little disappointing because we chose to stay in this much hyped hotel.

The hotel is an old house owned by one Mr. Vishu. The house has been converted into a hotel. The rooms are big with attached bathrooms and interior done in old style; an attempt to give an old-british-style-house look. However, the place lacks the basics of a hotel industry and hospitality and is very highly priced at INR 4000/- a night, not a value for money for anyone. There is no reception or friendly front-office desk kind of person availble to help you with anything.

The kitchen is run by a local, hired by the owner of the Hotel, to cook for you on demand. The cook also plays the role of a front-desk person, cleaner and does various other miscellanious activites; cooking is a part of one his duties.

Don't expect to get delicacies or cuisines from around the world; you can just get the standard Indian meal to survive. The list of dishes that you can get are limited by the knowledge of the cook available. We ordered "dal makhni" and what we got was "yellow toor daal"... not something you would expect when you are paying a premium for the stay.

The place has no power back-up (at least there wasn't when we stayed). With frequent power cuts in any Indian town, this is not something which you would want to happen to your place of stay while you are holidaying. We learnt it the hard way; during our stay, the power went off at 1.30am mid-night and in the absence of a reception or front-desk, we were inside a pitch dark house in the middle of a coffee plant....scary...haunting..can take the shit out of your pants......I can't explain that scary feeling in words.
The "house-cum hotel-cum resort" is in the middle of a coffee plant and there is an old (aged about 60+ years) care-taker who sleeps in the night in the house.You definitely don't want to get into situation like this where you are spending a night in a completely unknown place without a power and without anyone to help you out.
The power came back after 2 hours at 3.30am after repeated calls to the owner of the hotel. These two hours without the power were scary for both me and my wife. We realized the importance and need of checking the service background of your "place of stay" in any holiday location before checking-in.
We completely lost our nights sleep after this incident and the peaceful night in a holiday destination became a night mare. We had to cancel our plan of going for a trek at 6am in the morning after this loss of sleep and slept through till late early morning only to get a call that we have to check-out at 10am next morning......
I wish, I was in a frame of mind to write about some of the good things about the stay...thanks god you made me stay there just 1 out of the many more days I will stay on this earth

Michael Jackson's History: A Tribute to MJ

Well, what can one say about someone who started his career at 5 years of age and even then garnered adulation as much as an established star? That was just one of the humble achievements of Michael Jackson, the unbeaten King of Pop. Here’s a run through HIStory!

Michael was born on the 29th of August, 1958 in Gary, Indiana. His parents were working class African-American folks. Though his father was a guitarist, he had to hang up his boots to work as a crane operator in order to provide for his wife and 9 kids, Michael being the 7th child. The era of Michael’s magic began in 1964 when he was 5, and the lead singer of a band Jackson 5, formed by his brothers, Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon and himself. The band would play the same clubs as biggies like Jackie Wilson. Four years after their formation, the Bobby Taylor and The Vancouvers discovered Jackson 5 and got them an audition for Motown Records. Their singles, "I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There" were declared US No1 hits. The Jackson 5 then recorded 14 albums and Michael recorded 4 solo albums with Motown.

In 1976, The Jackson 5 decided to move on and signed up with Epic. The group renamed The Jacksons (their name before Jackson 5). Youngest brother Randy replaced Jermaine and the Jacksons made 6 albums till 1984. Michael made his first film debut in 1977 with the musical 'The Wiz' playing Scarecrow with Diana Ross. Michael met Quincy Jones there, who did the score for the film. This collaboration resulted in his successful album "Off The Wall", the first ever album to release a record breaking 4 No1 singles in the US.

There on, success just followed. In 1982 saw the world's largest selling album of all time, 'Thriller', which produced 7 hit singles, and sold over 50 million copies worldwide! Michael worked with the best directors and producers to make music videos (short films, as he called them) for promoting his singles, especially 'Billie Jean' and 'Thriller'. Not just the single but also 'The Making Of Michael Jackson's Thriller' became the world's largest selling home video combined with soaring album sales.

In 1983 was the year when the super famous moonwalk came into being, when Michael performed it for the first time on the 'Motown 25 years' anniversary show. A year later, in 1984, Michael won a record breaking 8 Grammy awards in one night. December 9, 1984, saw the last concert of the Jacksons’ Victory Tour. Michael split from the group and went solo. 1987 saw the release of his eagerly-awaited third solo album, 'Bad', and went on his first solo world tour. 1988, Michael wrote his first autobiography, in which he spoke on his childhood and career for the first time. The end of the 1980s marked Michael as 'Artist of the Decade', for the success of 'Thriller' and 'Bad'.

Michael’s fourth album Dangerous came in 1991, when he signed with Sony Music, the largest ever recording contract. He did a world tour again in 1992, and took his concerts to new territories never before visited by any artist. The same year Michael founded the 'Heal the World Foundation' to help improve the lives of children across the world. Michael married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of rock legend Elvis Presley in 1994. The marriage only lasted for 19 months, as they divorced in 1996.

Michael’s fifth solo album, 'HIStory' came in 1995; it was a double album - first half containing new material and the second half a compilation of greatest hits. What followed was a 2 year long tour. On November 14th, 1996, Michael married for the second time to Debbie Rowe, a nurse who he met while getting a treatment for his skin pigment disorder. They had their first child Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. on February 13, 1997 and daughter Paris Michael Katherine Jackson on April 3rd 1998. Michael released the remix album 'Blood On The Dance Floor' in 1997. This contained 5 new songs linked with a 38min film "Ghosts". Michael played 5 roles in this using the latest special effects and make-up artistry, combined with his dance and music.

Michael celebrated his 30th anniversary as a solo artist in September 2001, with two concerts to be held in New York, USA. Biggies like Whitney Houston, Usher, Destiny’s Child, and Shaggy performed their original and Michael Jackson’s songs. Michael reunited with all of his brothers and performed their biggest hits, followed by his biggest solo hits. In October 2001 Michael released the album 'Invincible' so far releasing only 2 singles including the big hit "You Rock My World".

The almost four-decade long career ended abruptly and tragically. As MJ passed away, he was apparently in a debt of $ 500 million. He was meant to embark on another world tour that would have got him $ 50 million. But, guess that was not to be! MJ has moonwalked back in History!