The Bankipore Club at Patna

The Bankipore Club, Patna celebrated its sesquicentennial year in 2015. It began as the Europeans Club and is mentioned ,albeit obliquely ,in Forsters "Passage to India" .By the early 1920s ,the Bankipore Club admitted some Indians who held senior government positions .The Club has weathered time and culture since then.

I first went to the Club as a child of six in 1959 and spent many a childhood afternoons and memorable adolescence evenings there and have more than pleasant memories of the place. Apart from the few recreational activities the club also offered tennis,swimming and squash. It also had a billiards and snooker room. It was in these facilities that one learnt about the rules of sports ,taught almost lovingly and yet with an unspoken firmness by the Markers.

As children,we were not allowed entry into the club unless chaperoned and that too either on Saturday evenings till 7pm or on Sundays.During summer we could use the pool in the late afternoons or early evening but the seven o'clock curfew stood firm. The appointed bearer would go around the club premises with a firm voice and a small clap that said it all in his shrill "Baba Log"!

Sunday summer swims were fun and ended with small brown paper packets of chips that were not billed but one had to sign for Cokes or for the club made ice cream soda that came in light green bottles with marble stoppers.Behind the men's changing rooms were two sets of swings and a see saw - a favourite meeting place for the teenagers.

The Club buildings were in two parts and one could drive in all the way and park in front of the billiards room except on movie days.The corridor connecting the Library to the Ballroom was built in the late 60s.The lawns were manicured with flower beds and ran across the length of the Club upto the swings.

A portion of the west lawn was acquired in mid 60s to build a glass front dining hall.Somehow it was not preferred,maybe on account of its then modern large glass panes.

I recall a row of trees on the lawn from the billiards room to the other building separated by a raised slab which was the official bandstand.

This Bandstsnd was often used by the Police or the Army Bands who were invited to play on official events. I remember on certain festival days legends such as Bismillah Khan and VG Jog played there, enthralling a small but ardent lovers of Indian classical music.

The Christmas and New Year Ball was an evening that members looked forward to.There was a fancy dress competition for the children on Christmas Day and a similar event would be arranged on new year eve for the members. Post the event the participants would have to change in their cream shark skin dinner jackets and bow ties that were knotted and not tied around the neck!

The band,usually Davis from Calcutta, would play till late and the members would wear the coloured paper hats and blow the toy hooters to usher in the new year.Following this they would sing in chorus the Auld Lang Syne ; many members would gather around the grand piano at the end the ballroom and would sing their classical favourites while a member would be at the keys- others stood with their goblets of cognac and cigars in hand.My father would sing South of the Border or his favourite Strangers in the Night.

There was an old dining hall ,adjacent to the ball room , and had formal seating and a small bar but no one hardly ate there. Formal parties were either in the ball room or the adjoining verandah.There was a very strict dress code that no one dared to break.T shirts didn't exist and bush shirts were day wear.Open footwear was unthinkable.

Food would be served either in the verandah or on the lawns.The indian fare would be the famous seekh kababs and goli kababs by Nathun. The other favourite was fried chicken and chips.The small continental menu consisted of either fried fish or cutlets.

The Sunday evening movie at the Club was seen from a 16 mm projector with Ghosh Babu as the projectionist. Rows of uncomfortable steel chairs were placed theatre style with a clear central aisle to accommodate the projector. It was a single projector and there were many short intervals to change reels - this short reel changing time was used to scamper to the food counter either near the kitchen or near the swimming pool to sign for chips or cold drinks or whatever. The movies were an amazing experience as one saw all the classics of its times including popular stars of the day with Doris Day, Dean Martin being funny with Jerry Lewis, Kirk Douglas, Rock Hudson and the teenager heart throbs in Troy Donahue and Tuesday Weld.

The railway river steamer would go past the Club on it's hour or long voyage from Mahendru Ghat ,it's giant paddle wheels churning and making waves,as it steered towards Pehleza Ghat with its Master directing its searchlight towards the banks and in front ,it's beam cutting through the darkness and the stillness of the night.Once a while he would also tug at the booming fog horn to drown the intimate dialogue between Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn! On a windy day the self standing screen would (politely) fall ,exposing the few who chose to sit behind the screen ,in the corridor in front of the billiards room ,to escape the setting chill or dew or to use the comfort of the overhead ceiling fan!!All they had to suffer was mirror image of the titles.

Somehow following an incident at a New Year Party in late 70s the Club began its journey downwards...the tennis courts disappeared as did the soda making plant and the squash court.The guest rooms vanished and the polished floors of the ballroom lost its sheen and splendour to termites.The grand piano lost its notes and it's front legs.By then Nathu had passed away and the Club food was never the same again. Members began calling bearers by the first names -not heeding to the famous line attributed to the legendary Mr M K Sinha..."Bearers have no names"! The grand ambience of the Club simply vanished.No Santa Claus came by the boat and up the steps to the Club to the glee and delight of the children ,dressed in their best to receive what Father Christmas got for them.

I visited the Club two years ago with my brother,who was visiting the Club after 50 years. Prohibition had not been declared then. It was 7pm of a January evening. The Cardroom had some members playing rummy and the adjacent card table had used plates with leftovers,some chewed bones were on the green faded felt of the table. Pan stains adorned the corners of the corridor that led to the old swimming pool area where there was a heap of garbage .The billiards room was open but no one playing. The ballroom with ceramic flooring ,had stacks of used paper plates and more garbage where once the piano stood- vestige of a party that had finished the previous night.

Near the lawns were small fountains with colour illuminations. Some members sat on the lawn braving the cold and one had his feet up on a steel table. The old librarians son has taken on his father's position and on enquiry of the old books he pointed, almost with a pained expression ,at a few stacks, each in a miserable condition , on the lower shelves.Each priceless both in content and value.

Outside in a corner of what seemed a permanent concrete high stage was a bhelpuri vendor ,replete in his dirty kurta and selling as he would on a roadside.The tennis courts was a brownfield ,supporting a building which lacked design.

We did not go to the old dining hall to relive our memories. We left.

Shattered.