Rock stars, maharajas and lamb curries
Written By
Radhika Raj
| Updated:
Historian Sharda Dwivedi scripted Zafar Hai’s documentary, The Taj of Apollo Bunder. She talks about her 25-year-old relationship with the Taj
Historian Sharda Dwivedi scripted Zafar Hai’s documentary, The Taj of Apollo Bunder. She talks about her 25-year-old relationship with the Taj
My tryst with Taj began in 1982 when I was approached by the public relations officer of the Taj Mahal Hotel to help them research its history. There are variations of stories on why Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata decided to build a hotel of this stature. I came across one theory in a book by British politician Sir Stanley Reed. Reed describes a conversation where he mentioned to Tata that there was no good hotel in Bombay.
“This city is the gateway of the country and still there is not a decent place to live in,” he said. “I’ll build one,” growled Tata. And he did — the best hotel the country has ever seen. His sisters mocked him — they said the man who has built textile mills and steel plants, now wants to build a bhattar khanna (dhaba). But he was adamant.
Completed in 1903 the hotel had cast iron pillars in the ballroom, Turkish baths and hand-carved furniture. Electricity had just been introduced in India. Special provisions were made so lifts and electric fans could be set up in the hotel. Some Indian customs were maintained. For example, there were no attached bathrooms. All the bathrooms were grouped together at the end of every floor — a practice that is still seen in the chawls of Mumbai.
Though the Taj has been renovated a number of times, very little has been done to the basic framework of the structure. There is a popular legend surrounding it. Many people have the notion that the Taj was built back to front. It is believed that the architect of the Taj left for holiday while construction was on and when he came back, he realised that the Taj was built back to front. Devastated, he flung himself off the rooftop of the hotel.
I decided to dig around a little and came across an old book in the Mumbai University library at Fort. The book contained original blue prints of the Taj sketched in 1898.
Under the prints, in fine writing there were two signatures. The first signature clearly read DN Mirza, a popular architect during those years. The second signature however was a tiny, unclear scrawl. The surname read ‘Vaidya’ — that was all I had. Days later, a random gentleman came to see me. He claimed that it was his grandfather who had designed the Taj Mahal Hotel in the 1890s — Sitaram Vaidya. That is when everything started falling into place. Sitaram Vaidya was the right-hand man of FW Stevens, the consulting architect of the massive Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the BMC headquarters. So it’s no wonder that the architecture of Taj resembles the CST station closely. Every time I had walked down the cantilever staircase of the station, it had felt strangely familiar. Now I knew where I had seen it before!
There is probably no other place in Mumbai quite like the Taj where maharajas, British viceroys, celebrities have all rubbed shoulders together. During their courtship days and before her marriage to Lord Mountbatten, Edwina Mountbatten had stayed at the Taj Mahal Hotel. They were often spotted sharing a plate of ham and eggs in the hotel lounge. In his testimonial, jazz legend and Taj guest Duke Ellington wrote: “When I asked the room service if they had any of my favourite dishes with chicken, the waiter moved his head from ‘side to side’. I was surprised that being surrounded by the sea they did not serve fish either. For six long days, I survived on lamb curry only to learn later that when you move your head from ‘side to side’ in India it means a ‘yes’.”
When John Lennon stayed at the Taj, the staff had a tough time fighting off fans who tried every trick in the book to enter the hotel. But not once did Lennon and Yoko Ono step out of their room for all the five days of their stay in Mumbai, neither was anybody allowed to enter the room — not even the room cleaner. What they did in their rooms for five days still remains a mystery.
So why is the Taj a legend? Because every common man who comes to the city looks up at the Taj Mahal, and thinks one day, I will have a cup of coffee here. For some, the dream does come true.
As told to Radhika Raj
r_radhika@dnaindia.net
My tryst with Taj began in 1982 when I was approached by the public relations officer of the Taj Mahal Hotel to help them research its history. There are variations of stories on why Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata decided to build a hotel of this stature. I came across one theory in a book by British politician Sir Stanley Reed. Reed describes a conversation where he mentioned to Tata that there was no good hotel in Bombay.
“This city is the gateway of the country and still there is not a decent place to live in,” he said. “I’ll build one,” growled Tata. And he did — the best hotel the country has ever seen. His sisters mocked him — they said the man who has built textile mills and steel plants, now wants to build a bhattar khanna (dhaba). But he was adamant.
Completed in 1903 the hotel had cast iron pillars in the ballroom, Turkish baths and hand-carved furniture. Electricity had just been introduced in India. Special provisions were made so lifts and electric fans could be set up in the hotel. Some Indian customs were maintained. For example, there were no attached bathrooms. All the bathrooms were grouped together at the end of every floor — a practice that is still seen in the chawls of Mumbai.
Though the Taj has been renovated a number of times, very little has been done to the basic framework of the structure. There is a popular legend surrounding it. Many people have the notion that the Taj was built back to front. It is believed that the architect of the Taj left for holiday while construction was on and when he came back, he realised that the Taj was built back to front. Devastated, he flung himself off the rooftop of the hotel.
I decided to dig around a little and came across an old book in the Mumbai University library at Fort. The book contained original blue prints of the Taj sketched in 1898.
Under the prints, in fine writing there were two signatures. The first signature clearly read DN Mirza, a popular architect during those years. The second signature however was a tiny, unclear scrawl. The surname read ‘Vaidya’ — that was all I had. Days later, a random gentleman came to see me. He claimed that it was his grandfather who had designed the Taj Mahal Hotel in the 1890s — Sitaram Vaidya. That is when everything started falling into place. Sitaram Vaidya was the right-hand man of FW Stevens, the consulting architect of the massive Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the BMC headquarters. So it’s no wonder that the architecture of Taj resembles the CST station closely. Every time I had walked down the cantilever staircase of the station, it had felt strangely familiar. Now I knew where I had seen it before!
There is probably no other place in Mumbai quite like the Taj where maharajas, British viceroys, celebrities have all rubbed shoulders together. During their courtship days and before her marriage to Lord Mountbatten, Edwina Mountbatten had stayed at the Taj Mahal Hotel. They were often spotted sharing a plate of ham and eggs in the hotel lounge. In his testimonial, jazz legend and Taj guest Duke Ellington wrote: “When I asked the room service if they had any of my favourite dishes with chicken, the waiter moved his head from ‘side to side’. I was surprised that being surrounded by the sea they did not serve fish either. For six long days, I survived on lamb curry only to learn later that when you move your head from ‘side to side’ in India it means a ‘yes’.”
When John Lennon stayed at the Taj, the staff had a tough time fighting off fans who tried every trick in the book to enter the hotel. But not once did Lennon and Yoko Ono step out of their room for all the five days of their stay in Mumbai, neither was anybody allowed to enter the room — not even the room cleaner. What they did in their rooms for five days still remains a mystery.
So why is the Taj a legend? Because every common man who comes to the city looks up at the Taj Mahal, and thinks one day, I will have a cup of coffee here. For some, the dream does come true.
As told to Radhika Raj
r_radhika@dnaindia.net
- India
- John Lennon
- Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus
- Mumbai University
- Stanley Reed
- FW Stevens
- Apollo Bunder
- Lord Mountbatten
- Edwina Mountbatten
- Radhika Raj r_radhika@dnaindia
- Zafar Hai?s
- Bombay
- Sitaram Vaidya
- Zafar Hai
- Taj Mahal Hotel
- Sharda Dwivedi
- Duke Ellington
- Yoko Ono
- Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata
- DN Mirza
- Fort
- BMC