THE JEWEL OF THE EAST

LONG BEFORE WES ANDERSON ROMANTICISED THE FICTIONAL GRAND BUDAPEST, THE GREAT EASTERN HOTEL IN KOLKATA INSPIRED NOVELS, FILMS AND OODLES OF NOSTALGIA

- UTTARAN DAS GUPTA

IN 1888, WHILE TRAVELLING through Calcutta, British poet and writer Rudyard Kipling stayed at the Great Eastern Hotel in the centre of the city. Now known mostly for "The Jungle Book" (1894), Kipling was born in Bombay and lived and worked in India for many years.

Calcutta failed to impress him. In "The City of Dreadful Night," Kipling complained about its overcrowded streets, impolite policemen and tram conductors, belligerent politicians, and most of all, a foul smell that hung in the air. The Great Eastern was, however, a refuge and charmed him with its grandeur.

"The Great Eastern hums with life through all its hundred rooms," wrote Kipling. "Doors slam merrily, and all the nations of the earth run up and down the staircases....Fancy finding any place outside a Levée-room where Englishmen are crowded together to this extent! Fancy sitting down seventy strong to tâble d'hôte and with a deafening clatter of knives and forks! Fancy finding a real bar whence drinks may be obtained!"

Opened in 1840, by confectioner David Wilson, the property was first called "Auckland Hotel," after the then Governor General of India, Lord Auckland. Calcutta was then the seat of the East India Company and the administrative headquarters of the British Indian empire. It was also a major port, a cosmopolitan urban centre, and often referred to as the second city of the British Empire, after London.

The novel 'Chowringhee' by Sankar, was translated into English by Arunava Sinha