By: Ganesh Saili
‘Who knows who is going to own this place after me?’ Mr Kishore Kaya, the current owner of the iconic Savoy, said philosophically.. Endowed with a religious bent of mind, he usually visits distant pilgrim destinations.
I was friends with the last owner, Nandu Jauhar. Sometimes, I wonder if he owned the place or if the place possessed him. We can figure that one out some other day. Years ago, I stood with him at the landing when a youngster approached him and asked, ‘Are you Mr Sethi, the Manager?’
‘Not yet!’ said Nandu, adding: ‘But the way things are going, I will soon be!’ Of course, Nandu and Mr Sethi, the Manager of the historic edifice at the time, did not see eye to eye on things like how to run the hotel.
Taking the night train to Delhi, which stops briefly at Haridwar. The two of us stepped out onto the platform to stretch our legs when an out-of-breath bureaucrat in a tearing hurry with a turbaned peon in tow approached us. He went up to Nandu, wearing his usual navy blue and asked: ‘Are you the conductor?’
‘I’m not,’ said Nandu. “but the way things are going I will soon be!’
‘My apologies!’ said the hassled fellow before haring off looking for the conductor.
Many years later, my friend Ruskin Bond and I arrived at another hotel. Some guests were having a bash to celebrate a reunion of old batchmates. The flustered General Manager stole a look at Ruskin and proceeded to introduce him to those gathered in the lobby, saying: ‘This is author Mark Tully.’
Of course, Mark Tully, ex-correspondent of the BBC, had been in the news on the publication of his recent book ‘India Unplugged’ which had made headlines.
Ruskin took it in his stride, smiled, and let the faux pas pass. He signed all the books put before him as Mark Tully.
I remember in 1997, the National Administrative Academy was celebrating fifty years of Indian Independence. As part of the celebrations, many a firangi had come from England. Among them was Roger Pierce, ICS from Sindh, all dressed up with a red cummerbund. His sister Phillipa Pierce, a well-known author in the United Kingdom, had written to Ruskin telling him of her brother’s arrival in Mussoorie. We did not realise that he had a wicked sense of humour – on his return home when a letter from Phillipa to Ruskin wondered: ‘Is your life really in danger? I am told you go around with a hulking bodyguard whenever you step outside your home!’
While I have been called by many names – a ‘bodyguard’ is a new appellation that I am getting used to. Come to think of it, my bald pate does help, but my paunchy profile comes in the way of my becoming a convincing bouncer!
In our small station, every other person you meet is or was once, a celebrity. Just the other day, I was invited, believe it or not, to lunch by a caboodle of bureaucrats. Like you, I did not have the faintest idea of what I was doing there. Once upon a time, I would have helped prop up the bar or on occasion, juice up the proceedings. But in my present shape, I would rather give it a pass.
On that day I had arrived ahead of schedule. When our host arrived, he was in a bit of a flap as he was late and tried to shift the blame on the weekend traffic jams. Breathless like an out-of-breath diver, he gasped, surfacing for air to mumble introductions. I watched him as he waddled towards me blurting: ‘This is the great photographer Ganesh Saili. He illustrates Jim Corbett’s books!’
Honoured though I was. I knew it was untrue. Ruskin Bond’s books yes! I have done a few. But Jim Corbett’s books? No way.
The fact is that when the famous hunter and writer Edward James ‘Jim’ Corbett was laid to rest, in Nyeri, Kenya sixty- six years ago, I was still in kindergarten.
Rest in peace, Carpet Sa’ab. We shall let this paper tiger pass.
Ganesh Saili born and home-grown in the hills belongs to those select few whose words are illustrated by their pictures. Author of two dozen books; some translated into twenty languages, his work has found recognition worldwide.
