For most Bangaloreans, like me, Sunday mornings while growing up in the early 2000s meant morning drives with the family to Cubbon Park, a small stroll along the luscious greenery the park has to offer, watching dog owners play with their little puppies running around with such energy, followed by a quite breakfast at Airlines Hotel, from my memory, the only drive-thru restaurant that existed at the time.
Airlines Hotel was established in 1968 right in the middle of the hustling city of Bangalore. When I thought to write about the place, I decided to take a walk down the memory lane, reminiscing all the wonderful times I’ve spent here almost every Sunday as a kid when I use to be in town. So I grabbed my notebook and a pen and sat down to write the rest of this story under the famous big banyan trees in the restaurant’s parking lot, while I waited for my double sugar coffee to arrive.
Just as I’d completed the first few lines, I decided to venture into a small part of the hotel I had never been before – the administration area.
I walked up to the cashier’s counter and politely asked the man sitting behind the counter, fully engrossed in watching the highlights from the previous night’s IPL game on his phone, “Sir, is there anyone I can speak to about the history of the hotel? It’s for a story…” and before I could complete, he pointed to his
left and said, “Go there and ask for Mr Natraj. He’s the best person to talk to you about this place.” I swiftly walked away from there, thanking him for his assistance and set out to look for Mr Natraj.
After asking about 2-3 waiters, holding a big tray full of food to deliver to the customers, I finally found Mr Natraj, very seriously looking down at a big book, which I assumed was a register or an accounts book of some sort. With a smile so bright and welcoming, Mr Natraj asked me to pull a chair and sit down and so I did.
As I was slowly opening my notebook to find the series of questions I’d scribbled down to ask him, he started to introduce himself, “My name is Natraj,”, he said, “I’ve been working here as a supervisor for over 20 years now…” very gracefully moving his glance from his book towards me, he quickly corrected himself, “26 years, to be precise.” He then went on to tell me the story of his last 26 years in the most descriptive, narrative manner, it was hard for me to not get lost in the little film he was about to show me through his words, before he could go any further, I stopped him and asked if it would be okay to record whatever he was saying than write it down as I didn’t want to miss any detail. He nodded with a sly grin on his face.
You know, many things have changed here since the time I started working. The premise used to be much bigger, we had more trees inside that one can imagine. But they slowly started renovating and buildings were added one after the other. The road opposite the hotel was much wider and a two-way before, but now they’ve made it a one-way. As they started making developments one after the other, we started to think that out business would go down but thankfully it has all remained the same even after all these years,” he said. “I still see the same people visit us, the same people who used to visit us all those years ago, it’s like the best part about our hotel is our loyal customer base. ” I could see the pride in his eyes as he continued, “We even have a conversations amongst ourselves, all of us who have been here for many years, the people who we’ve seen as college students now come with their kids, it’s almost like we have seen some of them grow right in front of our eyes,” before he was interrupted by a call.
As he said this, I wondered to myself, I’m one of those generational customers too. My parents and my sister had often narrated stories about how they would bunk college to come here and now I was doing the same.. Natraj resumed to say that the most difficult time was the hotel, its workers and its customers was when the hotel was shut down for a year in 2014. “We thought this was it! But to our surprise, the day the hotel reopened, we had so many people come in, that was when we realised we have together built alegacy,” he said with his eyes filled with joy. In a day, Airlines Hotel has about 1,500 customers.
While most of them come here to relish the variety of south Indian breakfast like the Rava Idly, Masala Dose, Mangalore buns or their signature dish, the ‘bigger than the plate’ Chole Bature, many come here for the sweets too, and my personal favourite Double Sugar Coffee in a glass bigger than my hand can hold. For over 55 years, Airlines Hotel has been a hub where families, business people and students come to get away from the daily stress, and just like Mr Natraj said, even if the city is constantly changing, the people who come here make sure that the place feels just like how it was when it first began.