Club Chronicles of Calcutta~

“And it’s a good day for shinin’ your shoes..And it’s a good day for losin’ the blues..Everything to gain and nothing to lose..A good day from morning ‘til night”

Yellow taxis. Victoria Memorial. Coffee House. Narrow bylanes. Calcutta has a few visual stereotypes. And all of them are suffused with an aura of plain living, high thinking, cigarette smoke. Covered with a mossy patina of old age.

But Calcutta’s elegance is a secret. Created during the Raj and nurtured till the present day is the subtle charm of Calcutta’s clubs. Old school, languid, minimalist. If luxury is all about being in control of your time and finding a cocoon that matches your personal style, the sahibs and memsahibs of Calcutta find it in their city’s clubs.
The unchanging taste of caramel custard. The heavenly aroma of baked hilsa. The perfect mix of the gin cocktails. The bearer who knows your every whim. The caddy who knows all your strengths. The bartender who knows all your weaknesses.

Our new series celebrates the unassuming luxury, the understated but fine living, the unaware sexiness... seen so often on the undulating lawns of Calcutta’s clubs.

If old-world elegance had an address, it would probably be the expansive verandahs of Calcutta’s clubs. The memsahib’s me-time is sacrosanct at the bars, the lunch rooms, the golf courses and the paddocks. At the club, she is mentolly at peace.

“Growing up, I never knew a relaxed woman.
Successful women? Yes. Productive women?
Plenty. Anxious and afraid and apologetic women? Heaps of them. But relaxed women? At ease women? Women who aren’t afraid to take up space in the world? Women who prioritise rest and pleasure and play? Women who give themselves unconditional permission to relax - without guilt, without apology, without feeling like they need to earn it? I’m not sure I’ve ever met a woman like that. But I would like to become one. I would like us all to become one.”

Nicola Jane Hobbs

Tea Talk at the Turf~

“I see skies of blue..And clouds of white..The bright blessed day..The dark sacred night..And I think to myself..What a wonderful world!”

This series celebrates dates with oneself. An entire day spent in between doing things you love and doing nothing. The joy of finding new love - it could be a sport, a pastry, an unusual shade of Bougainvillea, the afternoon tea.
This is a celebration of the Memsahib’s Me Time. At the sprawling acres of greens of the Turf and at the ivory hued varandahs of the Club.
A date with her own self. Of Golf and Gourmet.

Of porcelain tea pots, croissants and scones, Darjeeling first flush, the expanse of verandahs and the expanse of greens, a lone cat and a woman who chose to go on a date with herself.

Club Chronicles of Calcutta.