By: Ganesh Saili
‘Who knows who is going to own this place after me?’ My friend Kishore Kaya mused philosophically. Presently, the iconic Savoy Hotel’s owner is endowed with a spiritual bent of mind.
Nandu Jauhar, the previous owner, and I were friends. I have yet to figure out whether he owned the hotel or the hotel owned him. We shall try to figure that out some other day. Years ago, I stood with him at the landing outside the bar when a youngster approached him to ask, ‘Are you the manager, Mr. Sethi?’
‘I’m not!’ 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 matters like running the hotel.
Pic courtresy: Sanjay Kumar
One day we happened to be travelling on the night train to Delhi, which stops briefly at Haridwar. The two of us stepped out onto the platform, stretching our legs, when an out-of-breath bureaucrat in a tearing hurry, with a turbaned peon in tow, approached 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 fellow before haring off in search of the elusive conductor.
Pic Courtesy: Nishoo Prasad
Many years later, I and author Ruskin Bond arrived at a hotel. Some guests were having a bash to celebrate the 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 that famous author, Mark Tully.’
The fact was that Mark Tully, an ex-correspondent of the BBC, had been in the news about the publication of his recent book, ‘India Unplugged’, which had made headlines.
Ruskin took it all in his grandmaster’s stride, smiled, and let the faux pas pass.
Earlier in 1997, the National Administrative Academy was celebrating fifty years of Indian independence. Joining the celebrations were many firangis who had come from England. Among them was Roger Pierce ICS, with a red cummerbund from his years in the Sindh. His sister, Phillipa Pierce, a well-known author in the United Kingdom, had written to Ruskin well in time, tipping him off about her brother’s arrival in Mussoorie. He was a wonderful fellow, chugging along in his eighties, but gifted with a wicked sense of humour. We discovered this when, on his return home, Ruskin got a letter from Phillipa in which she wonders, ‘Is your life in danger? I am told you go around with a burly bodyguard whenever you step outside your home.’
Now while I have been called by many names, being a ‘bodyguard’ is a new role that I have yet to get used to. Come to think of it, my bald pate might be menacing, but my Laughing Buddha midriff does not make a believable bouncer.
Yes! In Landour, 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 could 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. Our host, when he arrived, was in a bit of a flap. He was late and blamed the weekend traffic snarls. Breathlessly, he gasped like a diver, surfacing for air to mumble introductions. I watched him waddling towards me to blurt: ‘This is the photographer Ganesh Saili who has illustrated Jim Corbett’s books!’
Honoured though I was, 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 a child going to school.
Rest in peace, Carpet Sa’ab. We shall let this one pass.
Ganesh Saili, born and home-grown in the hills, belongs to those select few whose words are illustrated by their pictures. As the author of two dozen books, some translated into twenty languages, his work has found recognition worldwide
