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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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I must have stayed in over 140 hotels and guesthouses throughout India since first coming here in 1995, from big-city cockroach infested pits to stylishly appointed Rajasthani lodges: the good, the bad and the downright ugly. However, one place stands head and shoulders above the rest and is an institution among foreigners on the traveller circuit in India. The Broadlands Lodge in the chaotic Triplicane area of Chennai is a former Nawab’s residence, dating back to at least 1850.

Broadlands is a beautiful but crumbling place, and peeling paint and flaking plaster are its hallmarks. There is a fine line between “old world charm” and “crumbling dereliction”, but as far as Broadlands is concerned, the former definitely applies. It is an oasis of serenity in what must be one of the most hectic cities in the world. Someone once wrote that it looks like a heritage hotel that is having a bad day. I might further add that it is a lawsuit waiting to happen, given its rickety banisters and falling plaster. Its tree-shaded courtyards, decaying wooden blue-painted balconies and sunlit verandas hark back to more genteel times. Walk through the door and you no longer feel as though you are in Chennai. The squawking crows, squealing chipmunks and serene bats contrive to give the impression that you could be in a remote country retreat, rather than in a city-based lodge.

Outside, above the entrance, a sign says “Welcome, Namaste, pray stay at this worthy lodge…” but only if you are in possession of a foreign passport. Indians are not so welcome at Broadlands Lodge. An apparent ‘‘No Indian’’ policy seems to be quite strictly enforced, whereby only Indians in possession of a foreign passport may stay. Many rickshaw drivers in the city know it as the “firang place”. The Lonely Planet guidebook omitted it from its main edition a few years ago, partly in response to this.

Krishna Rao, ...