The Ginger House Museum Hotel in Jew Town, Mattancherry, opened its doors quietly, without fanfare, in the December rush of 2016. Not many noticed the comings and goings at the hotel that was collateral venue for the then ongoing high profile art Biennale. Half a year into the new year, its ten themed rooms have hosted guests who swoon at the discovery of a “hidden treasure.”
The experience it offers, a mix of luxury, beauty, sophistication and class— live life king size— is the realisation of a dream for proprietor Majnu NB, a man who began life as a trained tour guide. Later he ventured into business with a seed capital, given by his father, of ₹300 in addition to ₹700, earned as stipend at the Indo-Norwegian Fisheries project.
A tour guide
But the beginning was by escorting tourists around the narrow lanes of Jew Town in the early 90s.
Over time, with a gathered knowledge of what the traveller seeks and what is missing, he realised that being different was the only way to engage the visitors. He bought his first shop, a small 300 square feet room, and began with a few large pieces of inventory as against the small curios that most shops stocked. “I have always dreamt big and my mantra is to be different,” he says, looking back. Soon Majnu acquired a reputation of a dealer of big artefacts. Architects, interior designers, collectors on the look out for large pieces—statues, furniture, ceilings, windows, doors, lights—began contacting him and a trade that rapidly increased saw him acquiring more real estate in the area. The humble tour guide soon turned busy and established himself as an art dealer shipping out large volumes of antique cargo to distant parts of India. His staff who joined him those days are still with him 35 years later. “They are my friends, I take suggestions from them,” he says.
Currently with over 10,000 square feet waterfront in the heritage area, where he has several warehouses, stores, Ginger House began with a coffee shop on the waterfront, its street façade showcasing décor pieces. It was also when Majnu began dreaming of building a hotel, like no other, in the contiguous heritage warehouse with its thick walls and high ceiling. He began thinking of rooms, different and befitting period grace.
The difference then begins with the setting itself, a curious camouflage in a bustling bazaar. Nobody, just nobody gets an inkling of what lies behind the noise and pitch of the street entrance. Neither the imposing elephant nor the 100 footer snake boat, eye-catching pieces, give away the luxury and beauty that unfold in the furniture, paintings, statues or chandeliers of the rooms within.
The Chettinad room with 24 carat gold plated washbasin and shiny flecks on walls, the Travancore Palace suite with wooden carved Kerala ceiling, the Lotus room which carries the flower motif to exquisite length, honeymoon rooms with connubial artefacts, French chandeliers, Moroccan tile wash basins, carved door jambs, Belgian mirrors and such are just some of the rare excesses that guests can languish in; it’s a museum no doubt rich with singular and imposing pieces.
Artefacts on sale
“Every artefact in the room is for sale, in fact each room can be sold, everything in the hotel can be bought,” says Majnu who replaces the stunning pieces with others from his cache or sources another splendid object from his vast network of collectors and contacts.
No wonder then, in this short span of its running, the rose wood elephant that welcomes at the entrance is set to be shipped to Delhi to adorn the Parliament, two single wood long tables from the waterfront coffee shop will morph into asymmetrical, grained boardroom tables, again, in the Capital. The gazebo in the courtyard was chosen to be part of another hotel in North India, likewise the bar counter, the ‘Hawa Mahal bed chamber’ from a small palace in Jodhpur is on its way to be majestically appointed in the Hawa Mahal room nearing completion. A French restaurant with a Versailles Palace décor under construction.
Majnu says ideas and designs come to him easily and he has not engaged the services of any professional to put the hotel or his business together. His workers are his sounding board and now his family, wife Neetu, son Vishnu, daughter Lakshmi and son-in-law Brijesh have joined him to run the hotel.
Majnu works hard, 18 hours a day and his phone rings constantly. The day I meet him is also his 60th birthday. The workers at the hotel are throwing a surprise party, cake cutting with balloons, confetti and crackers. Majnu and his family walk into the party in a shower of flower petals. His colleagues sing a song and their boss-cum-friend turns quiet and emotional. There is a silence heavy with love. He cuts the big birthday cake and offers it around to the men and women who he says have dreamt together along with him to put up his dream hotel.
“Nothing is special or not special for me in the hotel. Everything here is me and my workers,” he says now offering laddoos along with cake. His dream ahead? To get the world discover this hidden treasure, a labour of love.
