Martin Parr, Revisited Windamere Hotel after 25 years - Windamere Hotel, Darjeeling, India

Select site language:
English | French

Translate this page by Google:

Translate this page by Bing:

Close This Box

Translate this page


Martin Parr, Revisited Windamere Hotel after 25 years

Imperial Echoes

Returning to the Windamere Hotel in Darjeeling after 25 years, photographer Martin Parr is delighted to find it still redolent of the long-gone days of the Raj...

– Emma Hagestadt

Martin Parr first stayed at the Windamere Hotel in Darjeeling 25 years ago. After revisiting the hotel and the nearby Tea Planters Club to capture the last vestiges of Anglo India, he is happy to report that nothing much has changed. It’s really how you imaging a hotel in the 1930s’, he says, brandishing a picture of the hotel’s parlour complete with fringed lampshades, Axminster carpets and a framed portrait of the Queen. Ina hill station originally built to look like the suburbs of Guildford, it’s easy to see why this Surrey born documentarist might feel at home.

Originally a boarding house for English Tea Planters, Windamere was turned into an Edwardian-style hotel in 1939. ow owned by the Tenduf-la family, a quixotic clan with links to Sikkim and Tibet, it is patronized, Parr says, largely by tourists and wealthy Calcuttans’.

Parr has long been preoccupied with Englishness. Although he thinks of himself as a romantic, his photographs immortalizing Tory summer fetes and Scarborough sun worshippers often suggest mockery than affection.

Porridge, bacon and ‘rumble tumble’ eggs are wheeled in by waiters decked out in white frock-shirts and Lepcha caps

New arrivals often end up with shepherd’s pie, butter naan and egg curry on the same plate

The trials of eating in public-from seafront fish and chips to cricket teas – are a recurring in Parr’s work. The Windamere’s retro-dining arrangements fill him with school boy glee. Breakfast is served in a turret shaped room with views of the mist shrouded Himalayas, Porridge, bacon and ‘rumble tumble’ eggs are wheeled in by waiters decked out in white frock-shirts and Lepcha caps.

Raj favourites such as mutton hash, grilled kidneys, and raisin muffin – Madras fritters may have gone but the toast remains reassuringly leathery and the coffee lukewarm.

At every meal, guests are offered both “international” and Indian dishes, which means new arrivals often end up with shepherd’s pie, butter naan and egg curry on the same plate. “Look at the gravy!” Parr enthuses, pointing out a shot of the marooned slice of the Yorkshire pudding. There is still the comforting din of the One O’clock lunch gong and on Sundays roast beef and plain vegetables are on the menu.

Madras fritters
may have gone
but the toast
remains reassuringly leathery and the coffee lukewarm.

Site best viewed in Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher version with 1024 X 768 pixels screen resolution. (Windamere Hotel website in French)