The Gymkhana Club in Delhi is undoubtedly one of India's poshest associations. The waiting time for membership at this prestigious group of military types, which has occupied its current location close to what is now the Prime Minister's official residence since 1913, is apparently 30 years.
From from time to time there are mini scandals when it emerges that somebody has done someone rich or powerful a favour by having them made a member by the quick route. Not surprisingly, holding office at the Gymkhana Club - especially that of president - is a highly sought after position. When it's time to select a new president, the members usually try and reach an agreement so that the nominee is elected unopposed and there's nothing as unseemly as a real contest. This year, however, things have gone a little differently.
Lt Gen
Rajender Singh, a director general of the infantry and former western
command air chief Air Marshall Ahluwalia have been involved in a keenly
fought contest that has seen members of the Air Force and Army forced
to take sides. Indeed, such has been the level of interest in the
election at the club - of which former BBC India expert
Mark Tully once told me he is a member - that the two candidates had a
US-style candidates debate. Better still there is a Brown-Blair flavour
about the affair, with Marshall Ahluwalia claiming that last year when
the election came up he entered a gentleman's agreement with the
current president that he would serve one year, stand down and then
Ahluwalia himself be elected unopposed this time around. As Gordon
Brown found out after that famous dinner at the Granita restaurant,
such agreements often stand for very little.
Anyway, today is election day at the institution, formerly known as the Imperial Delhi Gymkhana Club. I shall update you when the results are in.
What is the latest on this please ?
Posted by: Div Mann | Saturday, 27 September 2008 at 06:23 AM
Its high time these clubs were shut down . They are waste of time and money ,they serve no absolutely purpose in life except boost egos .
The buldings should be pulled down as they are reminder of occupation by foreign forces , When will these so called indians get into their head they cannot mimic their masters and remain slaves till now??
Posted by: Anand | Saturday, 27 September 2008 at 09:26 AM
I fully agree with Anand's comment. These symbol of imperial Indian heritage should and must be pulled down as soon as possible. They remind us, I mean the ordinary Indians about the great divide that is now more than evident in the Indian psyche and society at large.
Time to harmonise the divide by pulling down such and other similar institutions. It is better late than never.
arif
Posted by: SYED ARIF AHMAD | Saturday, 27 September 2008 at 05:34 PM
Those who were rooting for the Air Force in this contest will be pleased to know that Air Marshal Padamjit Singh Ahluwalia enjoyed a 930 to 730 victory over the Army's Lieutenant General Rajender Singh.
Posted by: Andrew Buncombe | Monday, 29 September 2008 at 11:49 AM
Whilst I agree with Anand and Arif's condemnation of these sorts of institutions as outdated and sites of ruling class hegemony (as well as undoubtedly hotbeds of corruption) - I think it is wrong to advocate 'pulling down the buildings'.
This sort of architectural 'ethnic cleansing' has some very unappealing connotations and implications. Re-writing a nation's cultural past is a dangerous thing to do. And furthermore, regardless of one's hatred for the British colonisers, the buildings they constructed in New Delhi are some of the city's finest.
Posted by: Ed | Wednesday, 01 October 2008 at 08:35 AM
I must agree with the hatred of colonisation.Here in England the Indians and Moslem have occupied large parts of our lands
and not just the few thousand British who left India when asked in the fifties,but millions.Unlike the British they have not built us a grand railway system or prestigious buildings or even an effective civil service.But though we wish independence we have no English Gandhi who the Indians can send to Pune and return to us,we will have no 1948.
Posted by: John L | Wednesday, 01 October 2008 at 10:42 AM
An institution is more than the physical building. It is our perception that gives it its worth. Harvard University is not what it is due to the architectural magnificence of bricks and mortar. Destroying such beautiful buildings in Delhi which are unmatched in romance and adventure and tell of a time long forgotten, would be folly. Yet another attempt by the uninformed plebs to not address the real source of corruption and dishonesty - us humans, not buildings.
Posted by: Ohmer Zaypean | Wednesday, 08 October 2008 at 03:56 AM