Despite having lived in Mumbai for 10 years, I hadn't visited her. Despite having adored this beauty for so long, I had never experienced her.
I am talking about the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The first time I saw the beautiful structure was way back in the early 1980s when the UK edition of the Illustrated Weekly carried a feature on the best hotels of the world. The Taj was featured in it. I was absolutely smitten and awestruck.
My Dad told that this beautiful structure was in Mumbai, or Bombay as it was known then... and I wanted to see it myself, with my two little eyes...
The first I laid my eyes on it was in 2003, when I visited Mumbai for work. But I didn't get the chance to visit it. After moving to Mumbai in 2004, I saw the Taj many times but it was only last week that I got chance to visit this amazing place, a structure symbolic of my city, Mumbai, and India as well, a symbol of our fight against terror.
We drove into the Taj to attend a function early last Saturday.... After the function was over, we took a round of the property...
The jharokas are reminiscent of a Rajasthani haveli....
While the architecture is in typical 19th century European style, the interior was distinctly Indian....
Such a regal structure....
Anyone would fall in love with these sights
Surely those men who attacked the Taj were madmen and they deserved the end they finally met...
Wonderful jaali-work in the lobby...
The grand staircase...
The dome from the grand staircase...
The bust of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata..
Legend has it that he decided to build the hotel after he was refused entry to one of the city's grand hotels of the time, Watson's Hotel, as it was restricted to "whites only"....
As fate would have it, Watson's decayed over time and is a dilapidated structure, but the Taj still stands strong after a century...
The very look and feel of the property shouts out loud that it is a labour of love.... you can sense it, you can feel it...
And the way the Tatas restored the property after the 26/11 attacks speaks of that love and that steely resolve to give us the best....
We dropped by at the Sea Lounge for a cup of tea...
A lovely view of the Gateway of India made the experience very exciting...
The Sea Lounge was replete with old world charm...
The waiters seemed to be oldtimers here.... and made us feel as though we were at home...
This kind of hospitality is a rarity these days... in hotels that pride calling themselves modern and contemporary...
The oldtimers' hospitality at the Taj would embarrass their younger counterparts in the newer hotels with the superiority of their service....
Larry entertained us with his lovely renditions of classics on the piano...
And finally my tea came - I had the Monkey King Jasmine Tea that had come from afar, China...
Complimentary coconut cookies came alongwith the tea - these reminded me of my Mom's legendary baking skills....
After splurging on a rather expensive tea (I wasn't complaining, as the hospitality more than made up for the damages), we took a walk on the Apollo Bunder....
This was the scene of a bloody massacre on 26/11... people jumping out of these windows... smoke belching out... firemen rushing to save whatever they could...
Hope we never see that here, or anywhere else in India...
But it is indeed a feat how the Tatas restored the property after the Pakis screwed up the place...
We walked around the promenade enjoying the views... Indeed the Taj heritage wing is an imposing structure, but the adjoining high-rise wing is no less impressive...
Indeed, whoever has seen the Taj will forever remember the Bombay of yesteryears, the Mumbai of today and terror we faced on 26/11.... Indeed the Taj has been, is and will be a labour of love...., a love that's timeless...
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