Guests lounge around the poolside at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace hotel on a sunny weekend morning as Viren D’Sa prepares a small group for time-travel.
The story begins in the 1500s when the present-day portico was still an island and the Indian mainland lay ahead.
Reclaimed islands were grouped together to give Bombay “where everyone is a cocktail, shaken and stirred and poured into the city,” says D’Sa with a theatrical flourish, as he takes you on a heritage walk through the hotel that turned 110 on Monday.
The Taj shares its architect W.H. Chambers with the iconic Victoria Terminus, now rechristened Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, making them look like “twin sisters” — a chilling detail as the armed-attack by 10 gunmen in November 2008 began here and ended 60 hours later at the Taj. Getting back to the story, on December 16, 1903, the hotel opened its doors to British Viceroys and Indian Maharajas. Room tariffs were Rs 6, compared to Rs 26,000 today and the first tip of Rs 100 was the courtesy of the Maharaja of Patiala.
D’Sa, the hotel’s cultural relations manager, recounts the now-popular story of the back gates being the hotel’s original entrance. He dismisses the version that the architect committed suicide on the historic blunder in the execution of his plan that left the back entrance facing the sea.
Taking you through the architectural blend of British arches, Rajasthani balconies and Oriental domes, D’Sa says the check-in counters then had movie-posters in the backdrop — cinema was then a new phenomenon.
With many firsts, including electricity and ceiling fans, the Taj even allowed pets, till a guest turned up with a tiger!
Urban legends More urban legends crop up during the tour, including the curious story of the singer at Harbour Bar (the city’s first licensed bar), a maritime hub for soldiers during World War II. The singer, we are told, was in fact a spy.
On the ground level, we pass by a teak-wood panel, once the Air India ticket-counter, brought out after the terror attacks, says D’Sa.
The exclusive Palace Lounge houses exquisite paintings. Many were destroyed in the attacks, but the hotel has 4,000 paintings, 200 of good quality and 100 of museum quality.
More stories emerge on the lucky match-making couch at Sea Lounge, Mumbai’s second licensed bar, then a Mecca for jazz and the blues. It continues at the Banquet Hall that hosted India’s first fashion show and Lord Mountbatten’s last speech, besides becoming a 600-bed hospital for World War I soldiers.
Guests are also introduced to the five-star version of the city’s dabbawallah service. A portion of the money on these orders, goes to the dabbawallahs, he says. The higher levels of the hotel give a spectacular view of the dome, and other passages now washed in shadow and light, with no tell-tale signs of 2008 attacks. The tour ends with the 32 names engraved into the wall of those who died, including Lucy the dog.