Lodged between a hotel and a hostel

I can tell theyre duplicate he claims voice ripe with indignation Keshava Acharya wants his employers reputation spotless as his white starched dhoti The major domo has 50 years experience fixing a gimlet gaze on guests whose relationship status he sorts at a glance Duplicates are unmarried couplesWorking at New Vasantashram Boarding and Lodging House near Crawford Market since he was 22 Keshava belongs to a vanishing breed of loyalists Yadava Anchan is his counterpart at Hebbars Heritage Home Modern Hindu Hotel facing Sterling Theatre Both are assets to the Mangaloreans behind these early 20thcentury establishmentsVasantashram managing partner Sujata Pilinja Rao on the lodges verandah overlooking a vibrant streetscape that includes the Crawford Market clocktower Musafirkhanas brick facade and Taj in the distance The door handles are innovatively adapted textile printing handblocks picked up from Ali Umer Street near PydhonieFrom Matunga to Fort such homes away from home rose with Tamilians Keralites and Kannadigas testing the city of opportunity Landing coveted Bombay jobs typists and stenographers from the highliterate South would alight at Dadar Station and Victoria Terminus They were led straight to lodge accommodation by men hired to guide themThough Irani restaurants flourished between the World Wars orthodox Hindus resisted meat on the menu South Indians stepped in sanguinely with simple places providing coffee and vegetarian tiffin wholesome hometown food and drink People met here built networks formed lifelong friendships South Kanara families who continue to host a range of customers paying modest tariffs from R300 to R1200 share warm accountsKeshava Acharya left supervisor for 50 years at New Vasantashram with manager Jagannath Shetty in the lodges reception The colourful Madhubanistyle Mahabharata episodes painted by onetime resident artist VK Gupta from Ghaziabad are part of a wellconceived restorative makeover PicsSuresh KarkeraUnglamorous even seedy as lodges seem Sujata Pilinja Rao runs Vasantashram with passion This was opened in 1947 by her father Pilinja Laxminarayan Rao with his brother Subba Rao catering Udupi meals Sujata says Stuck between being a hostel and a hotel a lodge is the land of lost uncles joined by others who hang thin South Indian towels and clothes on anything resembling a hookVisiting Vasantashram proves every bit as adventurous as Alice stumbling into Alladins cave instead of the rabbit hole This wonderland sprawls on the third floor of Narasinh Mansion where elephants were tethered when the Maharani of Jaipur visited Sujata took over as managing partner after her fathers death in 2002 To discover an allmale staff bemused hearing orders from the little girl they had seen grow up fidget during pujas tear down their winding stairsYadava Anchan has gone about his daily chores as the general factotum at Modern Hindu Hotel for 47 years Antique furniture pieces in common spaces dorms and private rooms are a highlight at this lodge Framed in the far ground is one of a series of Bombay prints like images of the Gateway Flora Fountain and Haji Ali hung outside doors PicSneha KharabeHer crackling efficiency and firm sense of legacy earned respect from the staff Bravely balancing economics with emotion she faced chauvinism of course On one man repeatedly taunting Sujata to focus more on her child she lived up to her maiden surnamemdashPilinja means tiger in Tulu With a temper likened to hot black pepper sambar she told him an AK47 alone could put her downDipping into her savings the copywriter turned businesswoman actioned a cheerful overhaul The palimpsestic restoration stripped plaster revealing a vintage turquoise underlay brick archways and support structure features bearing the Victorian name Geo Gahagan amp Co Sujata assigned artistguest VK Gupta from Ghaziabad to splash canary yellow peacock blue and parrot green folk motifs on dull Godrej cupboards and water drums Old ladders and beams are innovatively repurposed to hang lighting fixtures From Darukhana she bought disbanded ship lanterns which line Vasantashrams corridors and lovely long streetfacing balcony Sujata hopes a restaurateur from gentrified Kala Ghoda soon matches her vision to operate a cosy verandah cafe encouraging conversations over coffeeAjit Mrudula and Shwetha Hebbar the third generation running Modern Hindu Hotel opened in 1926 by their grandfather KSN Hebbar to cater to the lodging and boarding needs of textile traders frequenting the city from Chennai Tirupur Cochin Erode and towns in Andhra Pradesh PicSneha KHarabeVasantashram has unique floor tile designs coloured almirahs and trunks and unusual artefacts says Arun Rajan of Kerala who came to the city to assist with film festivals at Liberty Cinema Bombay holds chaos yet you find your space and are integrated This is the citys noisy heart but it also brings beautiful calm of night His German anthropologist friend Pauline Zimnoch says Looking at Vasantashram on a website I found the building very interesting with its old architecture and the lodge quite economical in the middle of the cityA Vasantashram regular activist Chaya Kakde from Latur was Baba Amtes aide after the earthquake Training in Seattle with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation she launched the Refresh brand of organic sanitary pads in a small unit in Pardhewadi village Her womens group demonstrated to great effect at Azad Maidan protesting tax on sanitary pads Today theres no GST paid for sanitary towels she says proudly Here for our Vichardhara Gramin Vikas Sanstha work yeh ghar jaisa lagta hai I recommend Vasantashram to everyone in the Police Commissioners Office opposite the lodge and at MantralayaVenkappaiah Kanemar pioneered the earliest Southstyle hotel chain in 1912Lokmanya Tilak Road Vasantashrams location was the divide between British Bombay and Native Town Miles away a class schism resulted in Modern Hindu Hotel just beyond VT Station at Apeejay Chambers on Wallace Street KSN Hebbar of Kattingeri left the Vishakhapatnam hotel he worked in when its proprietor refused to give his monthly fourannas salary Reaching Bombay he set up Modern Hindu Hotel in 1926 with his brothers supportAjja had hordes of officegoers and tourists queueing for Southspiced breakfast lunch and dinner dishes on banana leaves says Ajit of his grandfather painter KK Hebbars cousin KSN Hebbar gave budgetconstrained strugglers subsidised board and lodging His son Anantha Krishna Ajits father singly ran the restaurant till 2010 and hotel five years later when he died It served 250 daily customers unlimited rice dal vegetables sambar chapati dahi papad and pickleHundreds of young men around the Hebbars hometown got a fair start in life at Modern Hindu Following a hard workday they were pupils in Forts night schools Secure in the knowledge of a clean bed at the end of the longest day several went on to set up their own restaurants and lodgesDitching a banking career five months ago to administer Modern Hindu with wife Mrudula and sisterinlaw Shwetha Ajit remembers his father go personally every morning to Byculla bazar for fresh vegetables A skilled chef he perfectly roasted rasam ingredients and kharapudi the Kanara version of gunpowder masalaShwetha points out antique pieces in each room rolltop desks hatcoat stands marble tables stunning armoires brass urns and urlis The open kitchen now a pantry retains their grandmothers grinding stone and handrotating chakki that prepared rice chaklisAmong their clientele were a Chief Justice of Mysore and SS Vasan the founder of Gemini Studios named for his wifes star sign and not a jackpotwinning horse as widely believed This was where C Rajagopalachari and Krishna Menon lunched after discussing freedom politics at neighbouring Bombay Gymkhana And from his Taj suite the Maharaja of Mysore insisted on Moderns vegetarian fareAjit says Cloth commission agents traders showing samples agents travelling to collect cash from dealers once formed our clientele Who does these tasks in the digital age He agrees however that online technology books streams of guests through Airbnb and MakeMyTrip Present residents include lawyers in town for High Court case hearings corporators from Kolhapur with their entourage foreigner interns and students from across the country who ask Is it peaceful to study I wish two aspiring medics luckmdash they are immersed in much feverish revision for radiology examsTraining police officers in digital forensics Prajakta Pathe says My room is pleasant with a really nice gallery view I have lots of public transport options to my Cuffe Parade office With CST Station close its easy taking trains to Nagpur where I live And I enjoy spending weekends in markets and museums nearbyFlashback to the romance of a pioneer introducing Southstyle hotels in Bombay Shobha G Rao speaks of her grandfather Venkappaiah Kanemar who with his chain of Welcome Hotels tackled language and regional barriers in a basically British industry The August 5 1973 issue of Bharat Jyoti describes young Venkappaiah from Mangalore in Bombay before and after attending the 1911 Delhi Durbar of King George V On the stopover he befriended some Coorgi soldiers strolling offduty They had an overwhelming grievance no food of their taste in city hotelsThe rest is hospitality history Shobha has a memory of her grandfathers photograph in Rama Nayaks boarding house indicating how far he inspired generations of legendary restaurateurs On the heels of Venkappaiahs first Welcome Hotel near Imperial Cinema in 1912 came others The one strategically situated near GPO appears popular considering the surge of travellers I notice check in at a rather dreary reception desk after the bright energy of Vasantashram As Sujata there affirms The idea is to stay relevant and scale up while maintaining the spirit of what lodging is supposed to be aboutmdashcommunity and affordabilityAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay Reach her at mehermarfatia middaycomwwwmehermarfatiacomCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates