Maidens Hotel, Civil Lines

Before The Imperial hotel came up in 1936, the most luxurious hotel in Delhi was Maidens in the Civil Lines. Built in 1903, it was called Maiden's Metropolitan at that time. Along with the Cecil and the Swiss Hotel, it was among the few Western-style hotels available for Europeans visiting Delhi.

Maidens Hotel, photo clicked last year

Maiden's Metropolitan was owned and run by a certain Mr. J. Maiden, who was fully involved in the day-to-day management of the establishment (and made a point of highlighting it as a major advantage). Shades of racism of course, assuming anything with a Sahib at the helm was somehow better. But perhaps I am being too sensitive. Maybe Mr. Maiden was only reassuring his customers they would be with someone culturally familiar, while negotiating a strange country. In any case, those were the days of the Raj, and I am more willing to forgive racism in an earlier era than today.

Entrance porch of hotel

The hotel was open only during the winter. In summer, the hotel shut down operations, while the firangis of Civil Lines made their escape to the cool environs of Shimla (the summer capital of the British).

The primary advantage that Maiden's Metropolitan had was its location. It was right opposite Ludlow Castle (the British Residency). The rail station was also nearby. For visiting dignitaries and their entourages, it made perfect sense to be based at Maidens. In 1879, for example, the American president Ulysses Grant visited Delhi. They arrived by train from Agra, and were received ceremoniously. Grant and his wife stayed at Ludlow Castle, but their retinue found accommodation "in the hotels around the rail station".

Ludlow Castle, now demolished. There is a school located here now.

I found an old advertisement for Maidens in John Murray's Handbook to India, Burma and Ceylon (published 1911). Long before Lonely Planet and Frommers, Murray's Handbook was a major source of information and travel tips for visitors to India. The first book came out in 1859, and several additional books came later. Every big hotel worth its name placed advertisements in Murray's handbook, and Maiden's was no exception. Note the room rates at the time: Rs 8 per night!

Advertisement in the 5th Edition of John Murray's book, 1911

The advertisement says "This Hotel is owned and managed by an Englishman of long Indian experience, who devotes his time solely to one establishment and has no connection with any other Hotel in India." This is of course, a dig at the Cecil, whose owners (the Hotz family) ran several other hotels (Cecil Agra, Wildflower Hall and Cecil Shimla). Mr. Maiden wanted to point out that their attention was obviously divided :) 

Here is Mrs. Hotz's advertisement for Cecil in the same book:

Both Mrs. Hotz and Mr. Maiden were obviously keen to highlight how modern their hotels were. Maiden says, "Electric Lights and Fans have been added, which convenience will be much appreciated, and show the up-to-date character of the house". The Cecil advertisement has "ELECTRIC LIGHT" written in allcaps :) Electricity had come to India only in the late 1800's, and that too first in Calcutta and Bombay. So these hotels were probably among the earliest buildings in Delhi to have electricity. 

Electric light in brass holder at the entrance

Maiden also made a big deal out of his "Fireproof Garage, with pit, free for use of Visitors' motor cars". There were very few cars in India at the time. Automobile manufacturing began in India only in the 1940s, so at the time this advertisement appeared, there were probably just a handful of cars that some maharajas or Englishmen had imported into India. Maybe these autos were not all that safe, and hence the fireproof garage!

There are three customer testimonials in the Maidens advertisement. The last one is from a guest who has returned after 12 years, and he says "I have been most comfortable in your new Hotel, as in the old one, and hope to see you again soon". There were actually two Maidens hotels. The first hotel was run by J Maiden and his brother. The second, the one that survives today, was run only by J Maiden. What became of the first hotel (or of the brother), I don't know. It is likely that the older hotel was modernised and relaunched in 1903, in anticipation of Lord Curzon's grand Coronation Durbar celebrations.

Maidens still survives today, it is run by the Oberoi Group now, and is classified as a 4-star hotel.  If you are looking for a heritage hotel experience in Delhi, but don't have the budget for the (much) fancier Imperial Hotel, then Maidens is a very good choice.

The Delhi Durbar, 1911

In the winter of 1911, the grand Delhi Durbar was held to commemorate the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India. A massive tent city was created north of the areas of Paharganj and Sadar Bazaar, and royalty from all over India came to stay in these tents. Every princely state was in attendance.

The decor of each tent reflected the culture and crafts of each kingdom - if you've been to Culture Gully at Kingdom of Dreams you'll know what I mean. The Jaipur tent had an Italian garden outside it. There was even a tent where the poles were covered in beaten silver :)

A massive coronation event was organised, and the King and Queen were seated on a dias in a temporary shamiana. Parades, music, salaams by 'loyal' local princes, presentations of awards - the whole event went on for a week.

I thought the shamiana's dome looked familiar - and when I looked closely it seemed almost a replica of the Jama Masjid dome. I can only assume that some political point was being proven. Or that the organisers were looking for something exotic and un-British-like and chanced upon the nearest inspiration.

On returning from the Delhi Durbar, King George gave a speech to the English Parliament in 1912. "All of India", he declared grandly, had commemorated his coronation. The event and indeed the entire visit, he said, had provided him with "overwhelming proof of the devotion of the Princes, Nobles, and Peoples of My Indian Empire to Ourselves and of their loyalty to My rule".

Remind me not to take kings and leaders too seriously :) Because, of course, the statement was quite far from the truth. The Partition of Bengal by Curzon in 1905 had already led to massive unrest. At the Congress session at Calcutta in 1906, presided by Dadabhai Naoroji, Indians were already asking for  'Swaraj' (self-government). The Swadeshi movement had been launched by Lokmanya Tilak; and Tilak had been sent to jail in 1908 for sedition. The British were trying to drive further wedges into Hindus and Muslims through the unpopular Morley-Minto "reforms" of 1909.

No wonder they felt that an appearance by a member of the royal family in 'flesh and blood' might help their cause and rally the 'native princes' to their side. The King and Queen even gave 'darshan' to the public from Red Fort, a la Shahjahan and other Mughal kings.

In concrete terms, I don't think the durbar achieved much to improve British standing in India. But King George V made two important announcements in Delhi: firstly, the partition of Bengal was annulled and, secondly, it was announced that the capital of India was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi. These two events make the 1911 Delhi Durbar an imporant event in the history of India.

Photos of Paharganj (and some advice for where to stay in Delhi)

For tourists on shoe-string budgets, Paharganj is usually the first introduction to India. Often it is a difficult and depressing introduction.

Located conveniently close to the railway station, this area of Delhi is a mess of ramshackle buildings, signalling quite clearly the tourist's arrival into the third world.

Main street area, just outside Delhi Railway station

Street view further ahead

There is a bazaar area near the station, where there are small eateries and many tour operators. This market has had a total make-over, and now houses a smart-looking set of shops that sell everything a tourist needs - inexpensive food, fruits, suitcases, chain padlocks for safety, money purses, toiletries etc. And of course, there are many shops offering hotel, road transport, train and flight ticket booking.

Amrit Kaur Market, with uniform facades in blue and grey

Vaishno Dhaba and Bajaj Hotel, offering pure vegetarian fare

A typical Paharganj scam is to have a signboard that lets tourists think they have walked into a government tourist office. Although frankly, you have to be a very naive tourist to actually believe the hole-in-the-wall shop in this photo is something official :)

Shops with misleading signboards - the usual Paharganj scam

Similarly, this shop below, which is opposite the exit gate of the Railway station, says "Government Authorised", but I wonder what exactly they are authorised for!

I wish the Tourism Department would do a clean sweep one day, and get rid of misleading signboards

Once you move a little away from the station area, you can see lots of lanes which have hotels and guesthouses in them. As far as I can tell, there seems to be no local population in this area, it has only hotel after hotel, and the only people you see are cooks, waiters, doormen, touts and other tourists. There are very few women around either.

This to me is the most depressing aspect of Paharganj - everything and everybody is geared to make money off tourists. If travel is about understanding local culture, the last place on the planet where you will find it is Paharganj, because this area is like an artificial zone that came up just to deal with tourists. You have to develop rhino armor-plating to deal with the insistent touts.

Typical street with hotel after hotel, facing each other.

Rooms are usually small and dingy, and naturally there are no views.

In the middle of this stuff, you sometimes come across "nicer" buildings with higher tariffs. The Ajanta for instance, has a colonial facade and a moustachioed doorman. There is something incongruous about these hotels, actually, because they are located on these small lanes where everything else around them is seedy. My opinion is, if you can afford to pay a little more money, then get out of this area and stay elsewhere (the tripadvisor site has lots of inexpensive little B&Bs where you can stay in nicer areas, I've stayed at several of them myself).

The Ajanta Hotel, which has an amusing 'wannabe' website with an American host introducing the hotel :)

To me actually the most interesting place in Paharganj was this tiny shop, which serves food to the staff who work at the shops and hotels. Here I found a bunch of guys getting on with their daily routine of cutting and chopping onions. They have a make-shift gas burner and by noon, they will have piping hot food ready. I would have liked to come back here at lunch hour to catch real people eating real food, and perhaps I would have heard a couple of interesting stories of migrants to Delhi.

Maa Bhagvati Restaurant, named after the goddess Kali

In spite of Paharganj being what it is, there are still lots of people who stay here. It thrives because it is very convenient for the rail station, and also because there is no other place in Delhi that will give you rooms at Rs 1000 or even less. Another positive aspect is that you get to meet lots of other tourists, backpackers mostly, and there's a sense of community that you get from those interactions. You can trade 'survivor' stories, laugh off your Delhi Belly with other victims, and admire 'veteran' tourists who have met and conquered Paharganj's seedy scams. In fact, these veterans won't stay anywhere else even if they can afford it :)

If you've made up your mind to stay in Paharganj, then I've heard good recommendations for Hotel Cottage Yes Please or Hotel Hari Piorko on the tripadvisor forums, but I haven't been there, so I don't know the tariff. My own pick for an inexpensive hotel would be the Ginger Rail Yatri Niwas, the budget hotel chain of the Taj group. It is located at the Railway Station, and is very convenient if you want to take the morning train to Agra. I've stayed at other Ginger hotels in India and they are smart, inexpensive and safe.