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GOING NATIVE

‘It’s a blessed life’

In his lair Ty Collins

Home is where the heart is. True, but for Ty Collins, General Manager, Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre, it is quite literally home is where the hotel is. Keeping long hours, the GM is invariably on call as he is putting up at the hotel with his wife.

In a large measure due to his boarding and lodging arrangements, his is a story different from other expats residing in Hyderabad.

“My wife and I lead an insulated existence. We are blessed as we need not worry about security and electricity cuts. My wife likes the luxury of living in a hotel. A few days back, there was a 12-hour electricity cut but she was blissfully unaware of it,” Ty reveals. Conceding their unusual lifestyle, he admits the downslide to the apparent luxury is work never ending coupled with very little privacy. “Everyone knows where I am. Selfishly, I’d like to live outside just to get a fresh perspective but the positive thing is that whenever my wife needs me I can be ‘at home’ in a jiffy. I can also pop in home whenever I want to and then be back at work,” he quips. Ty’s wife, meanwhile, is happy not having a regular job, unlike many expat wives who feel bored or miss work. “She’s lucky, she’s made good friends here. Also, she’s working for a small orphanage,” he tells.

Thanks to Ty’s pet, Julie, a Bichon Frise dog, he got to open the dog show held recently. “The Canine Club’s mascot is a Bichon Frise, but there is not one here apparently. So when my wife and I went for a look-see, taking Julie along, we got a lot of attention. It was so amusing. Julie’s pictures were splashed in the newspapers,” he says.

Traffic is not an issue with him, though his wife occasionally cribs about it. At some places downtown, it does get messy.

“People don’t seem to pay heed to traffic lights here. One has to be cautious at the intersections,” he says. But the adventurous-at-heart Ty has been braving the much-cursed Hyderabad traffic on his recently bought Bullet. A few Sundays back it was bonding time with colleagues on bikes as they rode to Srisailam National Park that has India’s largest tiger sanctuary.

It would be nice if the sidewalks and roads were to be maintained better, he feels. Expressing shock at an open manhole near the hotel, he says it stayed like that for days together. “Anyone could have fallen in,” he adds.

Ty wants to explore Hyderabad as much as work and time will permit him to. “Soon after we moved in, we went to Chowmahalla Palace and got our pictures clicked in those long, flowing Nizam-era clothes,” he confesses. They have been to Charminar and Golconda Fort too and had their pictures clicked by enthusiastic crowds.

The Hyderabad sojourn has brought about a change in the diet patterns of Ty and his wife, who have become almost daily vegetarians. With such an awesome variety of good vegetarian food, that is what they invariably eat. “Aloo korma is my favourite,” he exults. Ty has also taken membership of the Boulder Hills Golf and Country Club. “It’s golfing on Sundays,” he smiles.

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