Rooms unlimited
Aditya Rishi

A strange new hotel had come up in the town and a young man decided to look for a job there. The sign said the hotel was called Rooms Unlimited because it had infinitely many rooms. Its owner also operated buses that brought in tourists as guests to the hotel. After he had got the job, the owner showed him a paper that every guest had to sign before checking in.

The paper had all the usual hotel rules on it, but there was an extra statement at the bottom that he was told was so important. Writtenboldly, it said: "I also promise to obey every request made over the loudspeaker, no matter how silly or inconvenient it might seem".

When people were just starting to find out about the hotel, he told them numbers like 6, 28, and 42. As the hotel got more popular, he was giving out bigger numbers like 8,999,223 and 4,693,203,355,226. All day long, he kept checking guests into whichever room it was that someone just checked out of. One day, when the hotel was full, there came a guest late evening, who threatened to take the hotel to court if he was not given a room, as the sign outside said the hotel had infinite rooms.

He was just about to call the police when the owner returned. ``Excuse me, Sir; my untrained assistant doesn't know how to find an empty room when the hotel is full. We'll find you a room in a moment." He fished a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and pressed it into the employee's hand. "We get to use the loudspeaker. Go announce this,'' the assistant was told.

The young man switched on the loudspeaker system and read out what was on the paper. "Ladies and gentlemen, please recall that you have agreed to do exactly as we ask when we make a request on the loudspeaker. Please move to the room whose number is exactly one greater than the number you are in.'' After everyone had been moved, the owner turned to the waiting guest and said: "Sir, you can stay in room number 1 for free, but first, you must sign the paper, here.'' From then on, more people came than left every day; so, the loudspeaker was used fairly regularly to get everyone to move down whenever they needed an extra room.

However the buses that the owner operated were made just like the hotel, designed to hold infinitely many passengers. Soon came the day when infinitely many buses had to drop infinitely many passengers at the hotel. The loudspeaker blared out: "Ladies and gentlemen, please move into the room with double the number of your room.'' They moved. ``I was amazed to discover the trick,'' said the owner, shuffling faster through the pages, while the buses kept arriving. "The secret is lost! If I cannot remember it, I am ruined,'' he cried and buried his head in his hands. (To be continued; Write at The Tribune or adityarishi99@yahoo.co.in)