Social club in Kolkata, India
Calcutta Club
(
Bengali
:
?????? ?????
) is an elite gentlemen's club located on Lower Circular Road in
Kolkata
(formerly Calcutta),
India
. It was established in 1907 and the first president of the club was the Maharajah of
Cooch Behar
, Sir
Nripendra Narayan
. The
Prince of Wales
, later
King Edward VIII
of
Great Britain
, was among the first royal guests to visit the club when he was invited to a lunch on 28 December 1921. First prime minister of India
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
visited the club in 1961.
[1]
The club has always maintained distinguished members from every community - from Maharaja of Coochbehar to Maharaja of Burdwan, Maharaja of Darbhanga, Nawab Sir KGM Faroqui of Ratanpur to
Bhupendra Nath Bose
, President of the
Indian National Congress
[2]
to Indian economist and philosopher
Amartya Sen
.
[3]
Internationally acclaimed artists like
Gaganendranath Tagore
and
Abanindranath Tagore
were regular visitors to the club, as was
Oscar
award-winning legendary film-maker
Satyajit Ray
, longest-serving chief minister of West Bengal
Jyoti Basu
.
[4]
In 2007, 11th president of India
Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
visited the club to launch the centenary scholarship fund.
[1]
Other notable visitors to the club include prominent Indian artists and celebrities such as
Amitabh Bachchan
and
Jaya Bhaduri
.
[5]
[6]
Today Calcutta Club stands as an iconic landmark in Kolkata and represents the elite Bengal with rich history and culture,
[2]
and also referred as "The Grand Duke of all Clubs".
[7]
History
[
edit
]
Although not the oldest private members club in the city, it is notable because it was formed at a time when the existing
Bengal Club
only admitted whites as members.
Lord Minto
, the
Viceroy and Governor-General of India
at the time, had wished to invite
Sir Rajen Mookerjee
to dine at the Bengal Club and, when the discriminatory policy was thus exposed, a decision was taken to form a club with a membership policy not dictated by race. The club had historically restricted membership to men. However, this was changed in 2007 and the club started admitting women members.
[8]
The club also has reviewed its child policy and has started admitting children above the age of twelve years of age at all times since very recently.
The Club House
[
edit
]
The historic club house can be accessed by its members. Facilities for members include Residential Rooms, Banquet & Conference, Tennis Court, Health Club, Billiard Room, Card Room, Swimming Pool, a Parlour and a Barber Shop.
[9]
The main dining hall of the Club , that is called as the Coffee Room serves authentic continental dishes and genuine English dinner.
[10]
The hall is nicely lit with antique and vintage chandeliers and maintains its traditional and cultural values.
[10]
The clubhouse runs a bakery that is exclusive to its members and offers wonderful selection of savory pastries, croissants, cookies and bread.
[10]
The club also has a Chinese restaurant, a Tandoor Corner, and a Wine and Cigar Bar.
[10]
The clubhouse also maintains a library for reading and pleasure.
[11]
The club has a stunning collection of silver services including silverware that is only used on special events like the lunch session held for
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
and other special club occasions.
[12]
Recently the club has taken green initiatives for the future such as solar power generation, a compost plant to turn waste into manure, rainwater harvesting and also sewage treatment to reduce its carbon footprint and for efficient waste management.
[13]
The century old club house is maintaining a gigantic heritage building since the British Raj, and large treasure of antiquities like about 100 paintings and prints, priceless porcelain Ming vases and garden stools that arrived at the club from Cooch Behar Palace and the Burdwan Maharajas. The club reflects vignettes of social life of the European and Indian elite.
[12]
Membership
[
edit
]
Membership to the Calcutta Club remains a highly exclusive affair that allows only the elite section of the society, industrialists, the powerful bureaucrats or diplomats of India, eminent scientists, scholars, artists or highly regarded practitioners in field of medicine. To gain a new membership of the club, it can take from years up to a decade sometimes depending on whether the applicant has recommendations of family members associated with the club or has a prominent standing in the society through their work.
[14]
The club gives honorary membership only in special cases, like
Amartya Sen
, an Indian economist and philosopher, was awarded an honorary membership of the club after winning
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
.
[3]
Events at Calcutta Club
[
edit
]
Along with
Victoria Memorial, Kolkata
and
Bengal Club
, Calcutta Club has hosted
Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet
on several years.
[15]
The Telegraph
National Debate at Calcutta Club brings Indian thought leaders and intellectuals from different and diversified arenas of political beliefs, opinions, and affiliations every year to discuss about the current issues in India.
- 2017 speakers: Indian yoga guru and founder of Patanjali Ayurved
Baba Ramdev
, student leader
Kanhaiya Kumar
, Harvard professor, historian and politician
Prof. Sugata Bose
, politician
Sambit Patra
, fashion designer and politician
Shaina Nana Chudasama
.
[16]
- 2018 speakers: Indian politician, author, scholar, and former international diplomat
Shashi Tharoor
, former Bengal chief secretary Ardhendu Sen, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti leader
Hardik Patel
, moderator Sandip Chatterjee, MP
Tarun Vijay
, MP
Swapan Dasgupta
and MP
Meenakshi Lekhi
.
[17]
- 2019 speakers: Bengal finance minister and former secretary general of
FICCI
Dr.
Amit Mitra
, Indian actor and politician
Shatrughan Sinha
, Indian lawyer and politician
Abhishek Singhvi
, Former director of
Infosys
and chairman of
Manipal University
, Karnataka T. V. Mohandas Pai, author and editor Prafulla Ketkar, Indian politician
K. C. Tyagi
.
[18]
- 2020 speakers: Indian actor
Swara Bhaskar
, Indian politician and
AITMC
General Secretary
Abhishek Banerjee
, Kashmir activist Sushil Pandit, industrialist and politician
Shishir Bajoria
, student leader of JNU Aishe Ghosh, Former vice-chancellor of
Jadavpur University
Prof. Abhijit Chakrabarti.
[19]
- 2021 speakers: Former governor of Tripura and Meghalaya
Tathagata Roy
, industrialist
Harshavardhan Neotia
, Economist Prasenjit K Basu, MP
Mahua Moitra
, Cardiac surgeon Kunal Sarkar, Supreme Court advocate
Sanjay R Hegde
.
[20]
- 2023 speakers: Indian Marxist economist
Prabhat Patnaik
, Abhirup Sarkar of Indian Statistical Institute, Rajya Sabha MP
Jawhar Sircar
, former Prasar Bharti chief and retired Indian bureaucrat,
Sanjaya Baru
, columnist, author and former media adviser to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Koushik Chatterjee, executive director and chief financial officer of Tata Steel, and Rudra Chatterjee, managing director of Luxmi Group.
[21]
[22]
In February 2023,
The Indian Express Group
organized a round table conference at the Calcutta Club to shape Kolkata’s journey in becoming a medical hub of the southeast
Asia
.
[23]
Also in 2023, this was for the first time, ever since the club introduced its international evening in 1979, an Education Conclave was held with focus on education that is key in nation-building, in collaboration with
Techno India Group
.
[24]
The International Evening of the club is an annual food and entertainment event that has observed continuous participation by foreign Consulates-General.
The Royal Thai Consulate-General in Kolkata started participating at the club's international evening since 2020.
[25]
[26]
Earlier Consulate of Italy in Kolkata organised “The Italian cuisine in 7 points” to meet with the eminent of the city.
[27]
Reciprocal clubs
[
edit
]
Reciprocal clubs of the Calcutta Club include some of the notable prestigious social clubs in the world such as
National Liberal Club
, London,
Oxford and Cambridge Club
of the UK,
Royal Over-Seas League
, London, and Raffles Town Club of Singapore.
[28]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Calcutta Club | Welcome"
.
Archived
from the original on 8 December 2022
. Retrieved
8 December
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Calcutta Club was formed by Indians to challenge the 'European' Bengal Club"
.
Get Bengal
.
Archived
from the original on 20 November 2022
. Retrieved
20 November
2022
.
- ^
a
b
"Rediff On The NeT Business News"
.
www.rediff.com
.
Archived
from the original on 17 March 2023
. Retrieved
17 March
2023
.
- ^
"Basu listened, laughed and mildly flirted"
.
DNA India
.
Archived
from the original on 20 November 2022
. Retrieved
20 November
2022
.
- ^
"Big B rekindles yaarana"
.
The Times of India
. 12 March 2007.
ISSN
0971-8257
.
Archived
from the original on 24 April 2023
. Retrieved
21 July
2023
.
- ^
Jaya Bachchan at Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet 2015 -- Part 1
,
archived
from the original on 24 April 2023
, retrieved
21 July
2023
- ^
"12 Clubs to be a part of in Kolkata"
.
Window On Travel
.
Archived
from the original on 13 March 2017
. Retrieved
10 March
2023
.
- ^
Sunder, Kalpana (12 September 2020).
"At India's colonial-era clubs, allure of elite membership trumps archaic rules"
.
South China Morning Post
.
Archived
from the original on 26 October 2021
. Retrieved
26 October
2021
.
- ^
"Club Rules | Calcutta Club"
.
Archived
from the original on 9 March 2023
. Retrieved
9 March
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Food & Drink | Calcutta Club"
.
Archived
from the original on 9 March 2023
. Retrieved
9 March
2023
.
- ^
"CCL_Library"
.
www.calcuttaclub.org
.
Archived
from the original on 25 November 2022
. Retrieved
9 March
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"For 103-yr-old Calcutta Club, heritage means everything"
.
The Times of India
. 9 December 2010.
Archived
from the original on 9 March 2023
. Retrieved
9 March
2023
.
- ^
"Calcutta Club takes green steps"
.
www.telegraphindia.com
.
Archived
from the original on 10 March 2023
. Retrieved
10 March
2023
.
- ^
Chakraborty, Mehk (18 July 2016).
"Elite clubs of Kolkata"
.
Archived
from the original on 10 March 2023
. Retrieved
10 March
2023
.
- ^
Services, Hungama Digital.
"Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet 2017 concludes at picturesque Victoria Memorial"
.
www.tatasteel.com
.
Archived
from the original on 7 August 2023
. Retrieved
21 July
2023
.
- ^
"Surprise strike on surgical strike"
.
www.telegraphindia.com
.
Archived
from the original on 5 December 2022
. Retrieved
5 December
2022
.
- ^
"Old India vs New plus Very Old India"
.
www.telegraphindia.com
.
Archived
from the original on 4 December 2022
. Retrieved
4 December
2022
.
- ^
"Bludgeoned, Idea of India needs rescuing"
.
www.telegraphindia.com
.
Archived
from the original on 4 December 2022
. Retrieved
4 December
2022
.
- ^
"National debate 2020 today"
.
www.telegraphindia.com
.
Archived
from the original on 4 December 2022
. Retrieved
4 December
2022
.
- ^
"The Telegraph National Debate 2021: 'Blind to plight of migrant workers'
"
.
www.telegraphindia.com
.
Archived
from the original on 20 November 2022
. Retrieved
4 December
2022
.
- ^
"Calcutta Club The Telegraph National Debate 2023 returns on Saturday evening"
.
www.telegraphindia.com
. Retrieved
21 July
2023
.
- ^
"Calcutta Club The Telegraph National Debate 2023: A goes to M or M goes to A?"
.
www.telegraphindia.com
.
Archived
from the original on 24 April 2023
. Retrieved
21 July
2023
.
- ^
"IE Health Seminar 2023: Kolkata's journey to becoming medical hub of southeast Asia has begun"
. 23 February 2023.
Archived
from the original on 9 March 2023
. Retrieved
9 March
2023
.
- ^
MP, Team (5 March 2023).
"In a first, an education conclave added to International Evening chapter"
.
www.millenniumpost.in
.
Archived
from the original on 9 March 2023
. Retrieved
9 March
2023
.
- ^
"The Royal Thai Consulate-General in Kolkata participated in Calcutta Club's International Evening 2023"
.
????????????????????
.
Archived
from the original on 17 March 2023
. Retrieved
17 March
2023
.
- ^
"The Royal Thai Consulate-General in Kolkata participated in Calcutta Club's International Evening 2023"
.
????????????? ? ?????????????
(in Thai)
. Retrieved
21 July
2023
.
- ^
Debjani (27 November 2016).
"Prima settimana di cibo italiano; the way Kolkata witnessed the first week of Italian food!"
.
Debjanir Rannaghar
. Retrieved
21 July
2023
.
- ^
"CCL_Library"
.
www.calcuttaclub.org
.
Archived
from the original on 24 April 2023
. Retrieved
21 July
2023
.
External links
[
edit
]