The many histories behind a historic hotel

Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai has fascinated everyone

Mumbai’s Taj is arguably the crown jewel of the Indian hospitality industry, and its origin story—as well as tales associated with it—are captivating, even if some are apocryphal

It is undoubtedly the most famous hotel of India and has played host to powerful guests ranging from former US President Barack Obama to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg. And while the enduring moment for the sea-facing Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai as far as the global audience is concerned was during the 26/11 terrorist attacks, its appeal has fascinated every person who has visited the grand establishment. Indeed, its creation in itself is a sequence of controversial and riveting tales.

The common story is that during the British era, Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group, was humiliated when a premium Bombay hotel denied access to him as it did not permit the entry of Indians. It was an era when Indians were so routinely discriminated against that even the wealthiest Indians did not think much of it. Tata, however, took the insult in a constructive manner and set out to build a luxurious hotel that would not follow any discriminatory policies. He acquired land on a 99-year lease and set out on his mission. It wasn’t easy. It opened in 1903 at the behest of an astrologer despite the hotel not being fully functional. But over time, it became the benchmark in luxury, easily outclassing the hotel that rejected entry to Tata. On their part, the Tatas have never verified this narrative.

But there is another story, arguably even more fascinating, regarding the Taj Mahal Hotel, now called the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. It was about the design of the hotel that struck the curious observer as an oddity. The hotel appeared to be built back to front. Instead of the front facing the sea, it was the back that faced the sea.

The apparent reason for this was a communication gap. The design was done by an Italian or French architect, the nationality is not really clear. He returned home and left his plans in Bombay. Unfortunately, the plans were misinterpreted and the hotel was built incorrectly. In shock, the architect allegedly committed suicide. Time was however on the side of the hotel. Trends and styles changed. Flashy designs gave way to subtlety. In Under Seven Flags, author Eve Searle, the author who was born in what was then Czechoslovakia and who was in India during the British era and Partition, writes that “the irony of it is that today, with modern ideas of architecture, the plain façade facing the harbour is thought to be modern and beautiful, while the fancy, overdecorated back is seldom seen”.

The Tatas, however, had a chance to rectify the mistake. There was a hotel called Green’s next to the Taj. It was built even before the Taj and commanded a young and raw appeal. The Tatas acquired that hotel and demolished it to make way for the expansion of the Taj. The four-floor Green’s Hotel was gone and a 21-floor Taj Mahal Tower came up in its place in 1973. The entrance, this time, was changed from a dingy street at the back to the grand entrance that is there today, along the Arabian Sea. The initial mess-up was rectified.

It's a compelling tale. There’s just one problem—it may not be true. The Tatas deny this story. There is a wide constituency that believes the initial execution was indeed correct. And that the architect was a Briton who actually did not commit suicide. I suspect there could be merit to that assertion. The Tatas had owned the next-door Green’s Hotel since 1904 after buying it for Rs 3.65 lakh. If the Taj entrance was indeed such a terrible error in execution, the rectification could have happened much earlier than it did in 1973. (Admittedly, business was tough in the initial years with prohibition only compounding the stress.)

Does any of it matter today? Not really. The hotel seems to be going from strength to strength. Every wealthy visitor to Mumbai has that hotel on his or her list of places to stay in. The hotel’s legendary journey captures the best of India: where humiliation only raises the ambition, an ‘apparent’ error is rectified through ingenious means and an indomitable spirit exists to rebound even against the greatest odds.