By Ganesh Saili
Why put the cart in front of the horse? Most writers run that risk, especially when writing a love song for Robert.
‘Remember it’s Robert! Learn to roll it off your tongue as the French do! Not like the flat English ‘Robert’ as the locals used to call him,’ says Moni Ghai, whose family owned the Kwality chain of restaurants and who now lives in retirement in Rajpur.
The Robert we’re talking about first showed up in the station with a troupe of cabaret artists, billed as ‘Robert and His Danish Beauties’, at Hakman’s Hotel.
‘They should have been named ‘Robert and his Vanish Beauties!’ remarked Lillian Skinner, adding, ‘They were all over the hill!’
Pic courtesy: Chottu Sen.
When Mr Hakman passed away, his widow ran the hotel with a firm hand and her Alsatian dog, Cleo, by her side. Robert was the new Manager.
‘It was love at first sight. Robert was smitten. One look at the stunning teenager Penn-Anthony and he fell in love. She was the niece of Mr McGowan, Principal of the Railway School (1948-49). Lovesick, he took to hanging around the school gate to catch a passing glimpse of her,’ the late Lillian Skinner told me. ‘He pursued her to Halfway House, wooing and courting her, till one day she finally capitulated and married him.’
‘I guess she ended up with a double-barrelled name, Penny-Robert,’ the late Hugh Gantzer reminisced. ‘Robert was an entrepreneur who organised our first Autumn Festival. He saw the celebration of the seasons while honeymooning in Kashmir.’
Pic courtesy: Keshav Chandra
Moni Ghai recalls: ‘He was a larger-than-life character, with an equally big heart! No wonder they stopped making that model. Imagine us two, fresh out of college – Ramesh Khanna and I. We were on the way to Cornell University. We had just checked into the Mont Jolie hotel in Paris when we bumped into Robert. He was staying in that area, helping an uncle set up Gaylord, an Indian restaurant, in Essen, Germany.
‘As young lads, we had had wild dreams of painting Paris red. Now we were stuck with a man who knew our families back home.’ He chuckles and adds, ‘Out went our plans of devilry, as if on a witch’s broom!’
Robert said, ‘Moni! See you later. Dinner’s at the Moulin Rouge.’
‘Little did we know that he was a life member of the Moulin Rouge. He had reserved the best table for us. Then the trolley arrived with a huge chocolate cake saying, ‘Happy twenty-first birthday, Moni’. I lit the candles, cut the cake, and the entire restaurant sang, ‘Happy-birthday-to-you-Moni!’ The cake was washed down with liberal pourings of premium champagne!’
‘As I talk to you, I have no memory of what was served for dinner. It was a blur of can-can dancers, and Robert’s booming voice. Ah! The lingering taste of Mumm Cordon Rouge – the taste has stayed with me ever since.’
What became of the couple?
Robert and Penny became dance teachers – the equivalent of Fred Astaire and Ginger Roberts – movie stars of yesteryear – teaching locals how to dance the beguine, fox-trot, jive or tap-dancing.
As a Jewish-Austrian during the Great War, Robert had evaded German occupation, which meant moving from Salzburg to Paris, while his home in Austria turned into a resort for the storm troopers.
‘Many believe that the post-war reparations led to Robert’s heart failure, and Penny returning to the only home she knew.’
‘At the Savoy, Sardar Gurbachan Singh would tease my father for the glad-eye he had for Mrs. Roberts!’ remembers Pramod Sawhney of the Art Press.
Later in life, she developed a skin condition which made her sensitive to sunlight. It worsened with age, and afterwards she shaded herself with an umbrella as protection or went out at night.’
‘Weeks afterwards, Happy Garden stank of her dogs after she had left,’ complains Deepak Vaidya.
Shortly thereafter, Kedar Singh, the owner of a chai-shop in Mussoorie PG College, told us about a ghost he had seen sitting near the Crown Brewery as he made his way home to nearby Ban Suman.
I guess some of us must turn into ghosts simply to stay alive!
(Ganesh Saili, born and home-grown in the hills, belongs to those select few whose words are illustrated by their own pictures. Author of two dozen books, some translated into twenty languages, which has found renown worldwide)
