"No Indians Allowed" Hotels Of India

By John Kuriakose For the 'back pack' variety of foreign tourists, India with its exotic locations and cities is a great lure.

Over the years the Indian hotels they stay-range from big-city cockroach infested pits to stylishly appointed Rajasthani lodges: the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

The more practical lodging houses catering to these travelers have learnt how to cope with their often brawling guests.

For example, for the young Israeli just turned twenty and just released from the national conscription period of two years, India is a great temptation and it is estimated that more than 30 thousand of these back packers visit India every year and regrettably have earned a very unpleasant name for bad behaviour.So much so that in many Indian cities the cheaper lodgings houses say "No Israelis".

But believe it or not, there are Indian hotels in India, which allow only foreigners to stay in them and not Indians.

Not even an NRI unless he has a non-Indian passport.

The Broadlands hotel in Madras is one of them.

When I checked up with the Broadlands Hotel in the busy area of Triplicane in Madras, I found the owners evasive, but nevertheless firm in their decision not to permit Indians to stay in their lodge.

It all started like this.

Since 1951, the 155 year old Arcot Nawab built mansion housing the Broadlands Hotel has been a hotel.Its tree-shaded courtyards, decaying wooden blue-painted balconies and sunlit verandas hark back to colonial times.

There are 44 rooms in this hotel, costing in daily rates from 250 rupees to 450 rupees including two cottages on the 'terrace' to cater for guests interested in Yoga.

Twenty well mannered, carefully screened servants are available for all odd jobs, from procuring food from nearby eateries to ensuring that the rooms are tidy and the linen clean.

The lodge management has conscientiously barred all noise.

The rooms have no TVs and no phone extensions.

There is only one phone at the reception and one TV set in a common entertainment room on the ground floor.

Outside, above the entrance, a sign says "Welcome, Namaste, pray stay at this worthy lodge." Many rickshaw drivers in the city know it as the "firang place".

The Lonely Planet guidebook omitted it from its main edition a few years ago, partly in response to this racial implication.Otherwise the hotel has the honour of figuring in Lonely Planet show of the Discovery Channel few years ago.

Some where in the 1970's, it appears that the founder of the hotel found that if he mixed up the Indian and foreign guests in his hotel, it created trouble, especially, as in the opinion of many 'adult' Indian males, foreign girls are an easy target for their 'sexual attention".

He decided to turn his hostelry into a sober retreat for any foreigner especially ladies, who want a quite place for their stay in India.As such he banned all Indian guests from the establishment.

Krishna Rao, owner and grandson of the founder, says that he "chooses" his guests carefully and denies that discrimination exists.

"I am preserving this heritage hotel to give the best, a secure place for a single foreign womans to stay.

Can a five star hotel give that guarantee?".

Another reason, that has been given is that many residents stay long term, studying yoga, music or other aspects of Indian culture; if Indians were allowed, guests would not be allowed sufficient personal space or privacy.

A further explanation for being "selective" is that the place has communal showers and toilets, and this can involve women walking to and from the facilities, perhaps dressed in the barest essentials.

It is felt that as the norms and values surrounding gender and sexuality are different in India, this may cause problems.

One tourist operator sarcastically stated that for Indians, for the price one has to spend at Broadlands, better rooms are available in other local establishments, with bath and toilet facilities.

This might be one reason, no agitated Indian group has taken up cudgels against the "foreigners only" policy.

Although Broadlands is an extreme example of "foreigners only" hotel, there are quite a number of hotels in prominent cities of India like Goa,Delhi and Jaipur, which adheres to the "foreigners only" principle without much fanfare.

The word of mouth publicity/ the mention in influential travel guides like Frommer they get outside India by satisfied guests, ensures that this "foreigners only" policy, ensures that the hotels are always full.