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METROSCAPE
Stack
Up
The debutants on Bangalore's
megahotel scene. Yes, and size does matter
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| PALATIAL PREDILICTION: Nair in front of his
Leela Palace |
Leela Palace Hotel: Hotelier Captain C.P.
Krishnan Nair, 80, has a memory lane in Mysore. He remembers journeys
with his uncle when he was seven-to the Mysore Palace, and the dream that
was born to create a replica "in some manner, someday, somewhere".
Obviously his award-winning properties in Mumbai and Goa were not enough-the
Mysore magic could only be replicated by the grandiloquent Rs 350 crore,
253-room Leela Palace Hotel, befittingly only a couple of hours away from
the muse town. Hard to imagine that the hotel was earlier a seven-acre
industrial shed. Soft launch in July or August.
Royal Orchid Park Plaza: There are other
hospitable romantics, too. Chander K. Bal-jee, who owns Bangalore's tallest
hotel (the 10-storey 30-year-old Hotel Harsha), has spent nearly Rs 25
crore for the 160-room Royal Orchid Park Plaza located near the Karnataka
Golf Association (KGA). Guests automatically get to play golf at KGA's
18-hole golf course through a special arrangement. "Most of the hotel
growth in Bangalore is linked to its software growth," says Baljee,
who has been planning his new hotel for almost 10 years now. Will somebody
please tell the exuberant hotelier about other reasons for building a
hotel? Software seems headed for not-so-good times.
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| BUILDER FOR SOFTWARE: Baljee
and the Royal Orchid Park Plaza |
SEE THE DIFFERENCE? The Park |
The Park Hotel: Located right next to
The Taj Residency on M.G.Road, it is what hoteliers call "a boutique
hotel". Asserts hotel chain president Priya Paul of the Apeejay Surrendra
Group: "We want to be stylish and trendy with an international touch.
There are also indications of high growth occupancy here and that's why
we're here." The hotel, white on the outside, multi-hued inside,
opened in April and is in full swing. Spot the difference?
-Stephen
David
Steam Sonata
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| TRACKING HISTORY: Prakash |
Dileep Prakash's monochrome subjects are shrouded
in billowing steam and grimy smog. They stream past fields, across water
and through mountains. One has come to a slow, wheezing halt at a sparsely
populated station where the only movement is that of the wind through
the trees. For Rediscovering Steam, an exhibition of 65 resin-coated photographs
on at Delhi's India International Centre till July 21, Prakash's 4x5 wooden
camera traversed Wankaner, the Nilgiris, Darjeeling, Howrah, Dehradun,
Korba, Guwahati and Assam. The steam trains that were the objects of his
lens' affection for two-and-a-half years were caught at cold heights,
great depths, in solitude and in company. A locomotive graveyard in Assam;
a procession of women crying "Free Tibet" as a train glides
past; and a gaggle of schoolgirls pausing in the bitter cold to admire
the Darjeeling Himalayan train. For Prakash, who researched the project
for 10 months, "a steam train is like a human being". The Businessworld
shutterbug wants to take his show across India and pour all into a coffeetable
book. And in case you're wondering, yes, he loves travelling by train.
-Sonia Faleiro
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