my not so pleasant adventure

so..i was off to Sri Lanka for a couple of days..short visit..just went to attend a meeting (ahem..yeah..im showing off) :)though iv been to SL many times before on work...I was particularly looking fwd to this trip..cos we were staying at the Hilton for one..and the work schedule was very very light...just one meeting..the rest of the time i was pretty much free...
so it all started out well...got upgraded to business...(pointer...for all u women travellers out there..always always check in at a counter which is being manned by a guy...they're always nicer :))
Before leaving Madras itself, I was told by my office admin person that there would be a guy from Hilton with a placard waiting for me at the airport to take me to the hotel...so when I landed in SL i looked all around for someone from Hilton let alone a guy holding a placard with my name...I couldn't find anyone..I asked a couple of taxi drivers from other hotels (there were only a handful of them) whether there was anyone from Hilton here and they said no...and that's when the knot in my stomach started..
For the uninitiated..while there is no serious danger in travelling to SL, it's not the safest place on earth...its a bit unnerving to watch army men with huge guns patrolling every corner of the airport as well as every possible road and gully...considering the root cause for all the problems there is because of tension with the Tamilians...I don't like taking any chances when I travel there...
So I called my office in Madras from there (roaming is fucking expensive..Airtel assholes charge 15 bucks for a SMS and 50 bucks a minute for incoming and outgoing)..she again told me my pick up was confirmed...so then I called the hotel (thankfully I was carrying their number with me..cos they did not have a counter at the airport)...To my shock they told me they didn't have any airport pick up request at all...and when I asked them to send a cab for me now and that I don't mind waiting..They told me there were no free cars at the moment and that it would take another 5 - 6 hours before a car would come to fetch me...She politely told me to take a local taxi...
Now while I'm a reasonably adventurous, throw caution to the wind kind of person..this idea did not sit well with me at all...So i was wondering how the hell I was going to get to my hotel..when one of the cabbies - a fat dude from another hotel - whom I had spoken to earlier walked up to me and told me he'll take me to Hilton in their hotel taxi...
Now my whole life I;ve been constantly told..."DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS", "NEVER TRUST STRANGERS", "NEVER GO ANYWHERE WITH RANDOM MEN"...add to that I was in a foreign country...
So I fumble with my words and the taxi dude can sense I'm a bit uncomfortable..so he's like.."Don't worry madam..We Hoteliers help each other a out a lot like this..Plus my hotel is opposite to the Hotel..So it really wont be too much of a problem. And you don't have to pay in cash. You can charge it to your room". So only when he said the last sentence I was convinced a bit..cos if I can charge it to the room, I'm guessing he can't fleece me for all I'm worth"
So...the consultant mentality that I have I called back Hilton and asked how much do they charge for an airport pick up...just to reconfirm that this hotel wasn't charging me a paisa more..Turned out he wasn't.
So this taxi dude took my suitcase and brought me outside the airport..where in less than a second a car and another driver was waiting for me. I was a bit uncomfortable in the speed with which all this was handled considering I didn't see the fat dude make a call to anyone asking him to bring the taxi around.
So I was feverishly looking at the car for their hotel sign (I felt very Nancy Drew like at this point)..and the fat dude saw me searching for the sign and pointed me to it..I thanked him sheepishly and left.
Once in the car, I started having all sorts of unpleasant thoughts..What if the driver took me to some desolated area (airport in SL is around 35 km from Colombo) and mugged me..or worse still raped me...or what if he figured out I was tamilian and wanted to kill me!
So my mind wandered to all the people in the past who I had got pissed off with for telling me I don't look tamilian / south Indian at all....Somewhere I felt I had to openly prove to him that I wasn't south indian...so i pretended I was calling office and spoke some sentences in hindi...now anyone who knows me knows I SUCK at hindi...my accent is your typical south indian "yek gaon mein yek kissan raghu thatha" accent...so I stuck to small phrases like "Accha" and "Theek hai" and "Kya Yaar".... :)I guess I made the point across cos the cabbie asked me "India?"..I said "Yes"..He said from where...Without blinking I told him "Bombay"!!!
Man...I prayed the entire time...I really was shitting bricks and only when I saw the Hilton in sight...I stopped praying..of course after thanking God for getting me safely... :)
So I charged my ride to the room..tipped the guy nicely..partly cos i felt bad for judging him to be a thief and worse still a rapist!!! Silently thanked the fat dude in the airport who saw I was in trouble and came across to help me out!

Both these people have single handedly restored my faith in mankind!!!

And some more bragging....My room at the Hilton was GORGEOUS to say the least...it was on the 19th floor and overlooking Colombo with the ocean in the backdrop... :)