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Broadlands Lodge in Chennai and its "No Indians" policy

Farewell to Broadlands

ColinT
2006-05-13 16:59:13

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They stay there despite the attitudes of those who run it, certainly not because of them. I have been no different.

However, Broadlands may take some comfort by knowing that elsewhere in India the same policy exists. In fact, there seems to be an unwritten law that particular hotels are for foreigners only. This applies to numerous hotels and guest houses throughout Goa and in the Paharganj area of New Delhi, where many foreigners rent rooms. The same policy of selection sometimes exists, but is never formally stated. The Anoop Hotel, Hare Krishna Hotel and the Ajay Hotel on the Main Bazaar in Delhi all seem to operate in this manner. The Evergreen Hotel in Jaipur is a huge, sprawling place with beautiful gardens, but they do not let “locals” in and have not done so in 25 years or so.

When questioned by myself about this, many owners cite problems about letting in ‘‘undesirables’’, who stay simply because there are foreigners staying. Other hotels in India have official signs stating “No Israelis” because of the reputation for rowdiness or rudeness to both Indians and foreigners that certain Israelis develop as they travel through India. So in fact discrimination exists throughout the traveller circuit in India.

Before the advent of guidebooks and mass tourism, travellers stayed as guests in people’s homes or, if available, in basic lodges, eating local food and mingling with local people. These days, partly thanks to various guidebooks, traveller ghettos now exist: foreigners tend to stay in areas where restaurants serve “banana pancakes” and Western menus, where other foreigners congregate and where hotels and lodges accept only foreign tourists. This is a damning indictment of modern travel.

As far as Broadlands is concerned, would Indians be prepared to pay between 230 to 450 rupees per night anyhow for quite basic, often run-down and crumbling rooms, when better quality exists throughout the city? Some cynics would say that it is foreigners who are losing out and being taken for a ride when they stay at Broadlands!

I fell in love with Broadlands when I first visited Chennai in 1997, and over the years I have come across some of the most eccentric and wonderful people. For instance, Johannes from the Netherlands is one of the most interesting people I have ever encountered, with his intense quickfire philosophical ramblings about the meaning of life, death, God, Hinduism… and God again. I love Jo. Jo is intervowen with the fabric of the building, as are indeed so many others. There is also lovely Lise from Copenhagen, who impressed me so deeply that I ended up dedicating my one and only book to her. Through them and people like them I have found so much beauty, humour and warmth with the walls of Broadlands. Unfortunately, due to the entrenched attitudes of the owners, no Indian person could ever say the same.

Broadlands is a combination of the good, the bad and the ugly. I have bittersweet memories of the place. Like certain people, some places are destined to leave a deep imprint - even if that is only by virtue of being a foreigner!

Perhaps “unwritten laws” should be spelt out and made public. Just because they exist and are tacitly accepted by many, does not mean they are right. Hotels exist throughout India where both Indians and foreigners co-exist in harmony. There may be good reasons for excluding certain “types”, but wholescale social exclusion is divisive and is the thin end of a more sinister mindset. I think this kind of thing was tried somewhere else before. I know how I would feel if I approached a hotel in England only to encounter a “No British” policy.