By Harjap Singh Aujla
The Vice Regal Lodge, the most elegant residential building in New Delhi and perhaps the whole of India, has undergone drastic culinary changes on formal occasions from the days of the Viceroys of British Raj to this day. This magnificent dwelling for the governing elite in India was built by the legendry British architect Sir Edward Lutyeans, when the Capital of India was moved from Calcutta to Delhi and a new administrative city named New Delhi was constructed. Its culinary character also underwent changes in conformity with the habits and tastes of its occupants. Its last British occupant was Earl Mount Batten, who had typical regal English tastes.
In independent India its name changed first to the Government House of India and then to the more indigenous Rashtrapati Bhawan, the Indian equivalent of the White House of the USA. I am glad, this building will not come down to make room for the Central Vista Project.
The first home bred Indian occupant of the Government House was Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, the first Indian national to become the Governor General of India wearing a typically Gandhian simple attire. During his time, the formal British Style several course lunches and dinners were replaced by simple and austere evening tea parties, in conformity with the aspirations of its occupants and the Indian people in general. The Wenger’s cakes and pastries and the stuffed patties were replaced by roasted, salted and peppered Cashew Nuts, Pakoras and the typicallly North Indian Burfi and Kalakand sweets. The most popular brand of coffee on offer was Polson’s Coffee. Among the premier brands of tea were the Spenser’s, Lipton’s and Brook Bond.
My father, as a Member of the Constituent Assembly of India, was always an invitee and he attended some. This write-up is based on my father’s revelations after attending some of these tea parties. All these tea parties were held on the vast lawns of the present day Rashtrapati Bhawan. Mr. C. Rajgopalachari, a highly educated man believed in simple down to earth living and high thinking. He seldom visited the Rashtrapati Niwas in Simla, which now houses the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies. Contrary to his lifestyle, his ideology was very much similar to that of the Conservative Party of Great Britain and the Republican Party of the USA. On account of his political ideology, he had serious differences with the Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. C. Rajgopalachari’s own food habits were typically Indian. The Rashtrapati Bhawan of today also reflects the nature of its occupants. For example when Giani Zail Singh was the President of India, he enjoyed a rich non-vegetarian North Indian breakfast. He was fond of fish, which he preferred at dinner time. His favorite dairy product was Curd (Yogurt), which he preferred to have with all three meals. The food offered to the guests in the Rashtrapati Bhawan has undergone a big change from austerity of C. Rajgopalachari to extravagance.
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