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Broad Lands – Heritage Lodging In The Heart Of Triplicane, Chennai
‘Broad Lands, Lodging House since 1951’ the decrepit signboard caught my attention as my auto turned onto VallabhaAgraharam Street from Triplicane High Road. Triplicane, a time capsule; is predominantly a Muslim neighborhood with the Wallajah Mosque, one of Chennai’s oldest mosques built around 1794, housed in one of the by lanes – several coats of new paint has frankly taken away its heritage feel.
The High Road leading up to the Marina beach is a busy thorough fare with busier side streets and congested by-lanes, lined with shops spilling out onto the pavement; selling sweet meats, kebabs, burqas, chadors for the dargah within the mosque, carved wooden Quran stands and more. An oxymoron in modern Chennai, with its clean smart roads and up market stores. Behind the imposing structure of the mosque stands this elegantly built, blue and white Raj-style bungalow which is now the Broad Land Hotel.
There are no documented records about the original owners of the building; possibly it was built by Haji Mohamed Badsha Sahib, one of Chennai’s richest businessmen in the late 19th century. Prior to World War I the Badsha family who had by then climbed the social ladder through their successful business endeavors and were well connected to the Ottoman Caliphate, made it ‘Le Consulat de Turquie a Madras’ (the Turkish Consulate) when a member of the family was appointed Counsel of Turkey.
The large rambling house is a labyrinth of corridors, spiraling staircase, shuttered panes, lofty rooms with arched stained-glass skylight and ribbed iron beams, multiple courtyards with sprawling old trees, layered terraces and long verandas at each level. The lodge has 44 rooms from single to double and encourages long-staying visitors, mostly foreigners – who have added to the wall décor with their artistic endeavor. With crumbling lime plaster, grey cemented floor and Spartan facility, Broad Land is certainly no pretentious Star hotel. What it lacks in facility it makes up in heritage, anecdotal history, charm and ambiance.
Broad Lands Lodging House
18 VallabhaAgraharam Street
Triplicane, Chennai
Photo Credits: Banner Left − en.wikipedia.org; Banner Center − tripadvisor.in; Banner Right:tripadvisor.in;
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