Ever since I read “Bangalore: Swinging in the 70s” by cartoonist and brilliant recounter Paul Fernandes, I’ve been wanting to visit the places mentioned in the book like the Bangalore Turf Club, Bangalore Palace, Oorgaum House (which gets an entire chapter devoted to its memories in his friend Peter Colaco’s book “Bangalore; A century of tales from City & Cantonment) and of course Taj West End.
So I finally got to go to the 130-year-old hotel today…And to quote Paul Fernandes, “People of discrimination and breeding would agree that the Bangalore of the 60s and 70s was “A Temple to Finer Things,” and its inner sanctum was the West End.”
“West End raised the bar to impossible heights; next to it all; all other hotels seemed mere pretenders to the throne. On entering these gates to paradise, you would walk into a rarefied atmosphere and be transported back to a more gracious time. Its twenty acre campus, in the very heart of the city, formed a compact cosmos that exemplified all that was good about Bangalore. It has a forest of lush foliage, green avenues, gracious walkways, fountains, manicured lawns and elegant accommodation filled with exquisite furniture. Even the bird calls heard at West End seemed more melodious than those heard elsewhere.”
Though the one missing factor was I hadn’t spent my whole day at the races next door. Paul Fernandes in his reminiscences talks of how hardened betters, race bookies, trainers, jockeys and horse owners would recoup the day’s losses or winnings at the Banglore Turf Club with generous in-roads at the bar. Started by one Ms Bronson in 1887, the West End was initially an exclusive (read-white only) boarding place for the stiff-necked British. After the Spencers bought it, it became a place for Brit civil servants, Indian royalty and the heavily-loaded. Apparently, the West End has also played host to quite a few celebrities like Prince Charles, actress Devika Rani and the man — who most opposed the idea of a free India – British PM Winston Churchill.
I wished sauntering in five-star hotels was a permitted hobby like jaywalking on Churchstreet. I was like Dorothy-following the yellow-brick road of old black-and-white photographs on the hotel’s halls; only to find myself being stopped every 10 metres by friendly hotel staff who kept asking if I was wanting to find the conference room or coffee shop. I gave it up after a point as idle-curiosity isn’t really a doable thing in a place of commerce. #WestEnd #TajWestEnd#PaulFernandes
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