A tradition of hospitality

India’s oldest hotel is being renovated and would be inaugurated soon.
Antony Kuriakose recounts the experiences of some its elite guests, including
Mahatma Gandhi, Rudyard Kipling and Queen Elizabeth-II

OFTEN called the Jewel of the East, it has been described as "the best hotel East of the Suez" by Mark Twain on his voyage along the Equator. The Great Eastern Hotel, which started of as a boarding house at 13, Chowringhee Street of Kolkata, is the oldest hotel in India.

Started 168 years ago, on November 19, 1841, as Auckland hotel, it has hosted a variety of guests ranging from Queen Elizabeth-II during her visit to India, Mahatma Gandhi to Rudyard Kipling, who wrote about the hotel in his book The City of Dreadful Night.

Mahatma Gandhi had put up at the Great Eastern Hotel for 15 days during a trip to the city in 1896. In his words, "From Madras I proceeded to Calcutta, and I knew no one there. So I took a room in the Great Eastern hotel. Here I became acquainted with Mr Ellerthorpe, a representative of The Daily Telegraph of U.K. He invited me to the Bengal Club, where he was staying. He did not then realise that an Indian could not be taken to the drawing room of the club. Having discovered the restriction, he took me to his room. He expressed his sorrow regarding this prejudice of the local Englishmen and apologised to me for not having been able to take me to the drawing-room".

But in 1891 Kipling’s encounter was different and he stated, "The Great Eastern hums with life through all its hundred rooms. And joy of joys, fancy stepping out of the hotel into the arms of a live, white, helmeted, buttoned, truncheoned British policeman! While Indian policemen patrolled most of the other areas of that part of Calcutta, British policemen were stationed outside the Great Eastern — to turn bullock carts into by-lanes, out of the way of the Burra Sahibs" an indication of the kind of people who would frequent it.

The hotel, which has been a part of Kolkata’s history for nearly half the city’s life, has seen many changes in its 168 years.

It was founded by confectioner David Wilson and named after the current Governor General Lord Auckland. Soon the hotel owner came up with a novel concept when he opened a "multiple shop" on the ground floor. In 1883 it was said, a man could walk in at one end, buy a complete outfit, a wedding present, or seeds for his garden, have an excellent meal, a burra peg (double) and if the barmaid was agreeable, walk out at the other end, engaged to be married".

From its beginning to the first half of the 20^th century, the hotel flourished. Locally known as "Wilson’s Hotel", it was also called the "Auckland Hotel and the Hall of Nations" in the 19^th century, After nearly 15 years since its inception, on September 10, 1865, the hotel was floated as a company called the Great Eastern hotel. Two years later, the management of the hotel took a landmark decision and inducted the eminent Indian writer Peary Chand Mitter into its board of directors.

W.C. Bonerjee, the first Indian President of the Indian National Congress, also held shares worth Rs 5,000 in the company during 1890-1896. The hotel had an extremely elite clientele. It was famous for its lavish New Year’s parties hosted by aristocracy, including the rajas of Darbhanga and Cooch-Behar. Four of the largest and most exclusive suites — rooms 208, 209, 210 and 211 — were always booked for the occasions. From the massive Durbar Hall, decorated and brilliantly lit, music would drift out until the wee hours of the morning.

Then came the Second World War when many soldiers of the Allied forces passing through Calcutta were accommodated here. Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese leader, is believed to have stayed in the hotel during a short visit in 1948. In those days, the entire entourage of a visiting head of state would be put up at the Great eastern. When Russian leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin visited Calcutta in the late 1950s, their party of nearly 70 stayed there.

The decline started in the early 1970s, when bickering among the partners led to a financial crisis. As the hotel was tottering on the brink of closure, the Congress government of West Bengal under Siddhartha Shankar Ray took over the management. The subsequent CPM government tried to privatise it in order to revive the hotel since 1994, but it was delayed for years, as no company was ready to retain the existing 400 employees. However, the employees ultimately accepted a voluntary retirement scheme.

The Bharat Hotels, owned by Lalit Suri, then bought it for Rs 40 crore, deciding to rebuild it into a five-star deluxe property, but retaining its Victorian charm. The renovation of the hotel was estimated at Rs 120 crore. The task is on as the oldest hotel in India awaits a grand reopening. — MF

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