Legacy behind Heritage TAJ....

On November 26, as we all witnessed brutal terror attack on Mumbai’s Taj Mahal hotel, which suffered massive destruction by terrorists, not many of us know the historical importance of The Taj, which has carved a niche for itself. During pre- independence India, there was demarcation where in all the posh and high profile areas were exclusively reserved for whites and colored people were not allowed.

Remember Bhagat Singh and his friends being necked out of the play for entering the area which was reserved for whites, displaying ‘Dogs and Indians are not allowed’. Another famous (rather infamous) incident, where Gandhi being forced out of a first class compartment in South Africa.

People like Bhagat Singh and Gandhi decided to fight against the racial indiscrimination through violent and non-violent techniques respectively. But people like Jamshetji Tata decided to show the resilience in other way.

Jamshetji Tata decided to build a magnificent hotel in India after he was turned away from one that was specifically reserved for Whites, is an urban legend. He simply wished to build a hotel that the country could be proud of and a place where Indians and Europeans could freely mingle. That’s the reason why Ratan Tata has direct control over the Taj Mahal Palace.

I recently came across an article in Mumbai Mirror which revealed many unknown secrets of Taj Hotel, which would like to share...

Urban historian Sharda Dwivedi was commissioned to write a book titled Taj at Apollo Bunder on the Taj Mahal Hotel and Towers. The book was done 25 years ago but was put on the backburner and never published. Dwivedi dwells on some nuggets from the unpublished manuscript on the country's first luxury hotel built in 1903.

• From the 1920s onwards, Sarojini Naidu took a suite of rooms at the Taj and had them for at least three decades. As she was a poet and an active participant in politics, she used to entertain a lot here. She had meetings with Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Nehru in this suite. After World War II, many prominent Europeans converged upon this place to have dialogue with people who were involved in India's freedom movement about India's history and the new political climate.
• Politically, two-fifths of the country belonged to princely India. The royalty used to have an informal chamber for meetings, and that’s how one of the rooms got the name Prince’s Room. This is where the maharajahs would preside and their wives would let their hair down.
• The Taj introduced ballroom dancing and jazz music for the first time. Most of Mumbai's cultural and social activities centered around here. Mehli Mehta, Zubin Mehta’s father, would regularly play at the Melody Trio. The hotel was also the first to introduce authentic European cuisine.

• It is also commonly believed that W A Chambers designed the hotel. During my research, I found that the original plans were by architects Sitaram Bhaskar Vaidya and D N Mirza. Vaidya was the right hand man of W L Stevens, who designed the Victoria Terminus. He drew a lot from Stevens's design. But while Victoria terminus is Gothic, the architecture if the hotel is a fusion between Indian and European.Both buildings face west to trap the western breezes; both have magnificent domes and the staircases are cantilevered. It was only after Vaidya's death that it came upon Chambers to complete the project. He stuck to the design but tweaked the design of the dome. It was supposed to have been like an onion, but the architect gave it an Italian design.

• The Taj was a marker for all the ships entering the harbor.
• The Bella Vista suite, where the current general manager Karam Bir Kang lost three family members, used to be occupied by the Wadia family since the time of Neville Wadia, Nusli Wadia's father. The senior Wadia had a mansion called Bella Vista behind Kanchenjunga at Pedder Road, and a lot of artifacts were donated to this suite as Jamshetji and he were very good friends.

• The Sea lounge used to be the Palm Court originally. It was ultra modern for its time and was the first to have electric lights and fans. It was the hotel's lounge.

• The current Ballroom used to be the dining room. It had incredible metal pillars with filigree work until they were refurbished during the 1930s’ Art Deco movement.

• The Crystal Room got its name when JRD Tata’s sister Lady Petit donated all the crystal chandeliers from her bungalow, Petit Mansion, on Priyadarshini Park. Petit Mansion gave way to Petit Hall after it was demolished.

Amitha :-)

26th Nov, Mumbai terror strike !!!

I was getting adjusted and trying to come out of our Mid-night adventure, here comes
bang, bang!!!

On Nov 26th, terror strike on Mumbai...

Me and Dins started to panic as our close pal Sunayana who works for J.W. Marriot, is safe or not. Tried calling her, as usual her number was not reachable. Then left a scrap to call us back, later she got in touch and then we took a deep breath and told her to be careful.

We both were just glued to television watching all action till last day. It was very depressing and traumatic, seeing those visuals wherein NSG Commandos were fighting hard to rescue hostages from Tajmahal Hotel, Trident-Oberoi and Nariman House. Salute those guys who put their lives to save people stuck in there. And while watching saw some fellas saying, it is the spirit of Mumbaikars and their resilience and life will be normal next day.

In my view how long we can go on saying spirit of Mumbai, is there no end to that..? We can't do anything it is the necessity of common man, pet ka sawal hain yaar...Let's not exploit this by saying spirit of Mumbai or any other place where terror strikes.

I noticed one more thing, and that's about our politicians. We have elected them to provide us security instead they enjoy Z category security. Statistics say that a staggering Rs. 250 crore is spent for their security and around 10,000 security personnel are involved including 900 plus NSG Commandos. Gosh, that’s a huge number…Who will like to hit or blow them; it's the common man who’s targeted.

Some of the politicians made irresponsible and undignified remarks about the incident.

Maharashtra Deputy CM considered the entire Mumbai carnage as a very small incident by expressing “such small things occur in big cities”.

BJP MP Naqvi considered the protesters were anti-India as they were wearing westernized clothes and women applying lipstick. He even went to say they are the real terrorists.

Deshmukh seemed as if he has come to some social gathering and was very casual. He was also accompanied by some bollywood celebrities, as if they were getting some Masala stuff for their movie from the slain bloodshed and the aftermath which took place in Taj Heritage.

One more instance is Kerala CM, being highly insensitive and making those irresponsible remarks. The family of Major.Unnikrishnan is already in terrible grief, where they have lost their only son, and in this period what the family must have gone through with such irresponsible remarks.

These incidents show, Politicians will be politicians irrespective of the party. They always look out for opportunity to blame each other and to garner votes. Apart they pass the buck for their incompetence and ineptness. It’s been happening in the same way from years in India. It was there during 1969 Indo-China war, during Kargil war and even during attack on Parliament. These are the few but still but many more incidents can be accounted when our politicians proved how cheap they are.

It's high time now that they should be accountable for their actions...

Would like to condole all those who lost their lives, near & dear ones in this terror attack and also salute all Brave hearts of our security forces. Hats off to you guys..

We as citizens of India, have to get going against terrorism, enough is enough, and convey to the world, we are not someone who can be messed around so easily...

Would like to leave this article before signing off...

Why India is a target?

A mid-night's adventure...

Last ten days had been very terrible for me. On Nov 20th, around 10.45 pm, Dins met with an accident in the compound of our home. Earlier, I was unaware as I was busy in kitchen. Heard someone's cry, and it sounded more like Dins' voice, so rushed towards main door and saw him crying in pain. At once couldn't get the gravity of the situation and got tensed very much. Then he told me that he fell on wooden logs (Which our House Owner had kept from 3 months) while parking his bike. In this event his whole body weight fell on his left shoulder. And to my surprise our owner's son is standing there and watching quietly as if nothing happened. How insensitive can a person be?

I put my arm around Dins and made him to sit on chair so that he can get some rest. And in that situation where he is crying with pain, nothing was flashing my mind what to do, what step I should take further. I was just consoling him by telling it must be some sprain, dont worry it will be alright. Later he could not control pain and told chalo we will go to hospital..Then I called up our close friend Abhay, who stays nearby and he came within 5 min and we took Dins to nearby Shobha nursing home.

Initially, the hospital staff were very reluctant to attend then we requested since he could not walk on his own. I also remember the hospital guy who got the wheel chair being very rude and insisted that let Dins walk on his own. Once the duty doctor attended, he immediately called up the X-ray technician. One of the staff guys was insisting us to admit Dins that whole night and let the hospital carry the X-ray and the other procedures next day !!! Though, Din was suffering with unbearable pain. The casual and careless approach of some hospital guys there was truly unpleasant and had a commercial angle. But the duty doctor did not encourage this.

The X-ray showed clear Dislocation of shoulder bone. I have not come across such a thing and was thinking what the Doctor might advise. Then he told us that he should be given local or General anesthesia and orthopaedician is on his way. I was quite tensed and started praying God, to take us out of this situation safely.

In the mean time Dins was resting on bed in ward and me and Abhay were discussing with Dins what you would go for either Local or General Anesthesia..Then suddenly out of our surprise, the bone went back to its normal position with a sound 'tak' which Dins told us. And he was smiling as all pain had gone and he could move his arm properly. Then we called duty doctor and told what happened and even he was surprised, and Orthopaedician who was on his way went back knowing this. And we came back home with Smiling Dinesh and the time was 1 AM. By God's grace everything ended on a happy note and Dins was advised to put Arm sling and rest for 4 weeks..!!!!


Heart felt thanks to our dear friend Abhay without his support we wouldn't be able to make it to hospital.... :-)