Mumbai’s lodges cut costs, reach out to younger patrons to survive
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Mornings are busy at the 94-year-old Aryanivas lodge, tucked away
inside Kalbadevi's warren of lanes. Guests shuffle in and out of rooms
with dormitory-style beds, the barefooted staff bustle around getting
the tea ready, and a vendor from Dharavi has just dropped off a stock of
piping-hot idlis. Later in the day, the rooms will empty out, with
families setting out on excursions about town, and businessmen for their
assignments.
The place seems to run like a well-oiled machine, and it is only after a glance around the mostly defunct kitchen area that the signs of wear become apparent. The tea bubbles over on a solitary stove, unlike five years ago, when the kitchen dished out sumptuous meals to its guests.
"We used to serve everything from Gujarati rotlas and meetha dal, to chhaas, masala doodh, khichdi and papad earlier," recalls cashier Jagdish Jani, who has worked here for over three decades. "Masala doodh dal ke jaise behta tha (We used to serve masala doodh as often as you'd serve dal)." With inflation and a large chunk of the staff moving to greener pastures, the lodge shut down its kitchen in 2009.
The situation gets much bleaker at Ramakrishna Guest House in Matunga. A dark, creaky stairway, paan-stained walls and a surly warden welcome you to the establishment. "Yes, yes, look around if you want," says the silver-haired caretaker, ambling off to shake out a mattress. "There's no one here." Out of the available 18 rooms, about 12 are shut and a couple others lie unoccupied.
The earliest clientele at these establishments, says city historian Deepak Rao, comprised traders from across the country, looking for clean, affordable lodging close to their place of business. "Bombay has always had a history of people coming here for work," Rao says. "There were a number of lodges catering to them in Kalbadevi, Grant Road, Bombay Central and CST." The less-congested neighbourhoods such as Matunga drew migrants from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, who felt at home among the glut of South Indian eateries and temples.
But over the years, with rising costs and a dwindling clientele, survival has become increasingly difficult. Some, such as Aryanivas, have cut out meals while others such as Matunga's Manohar Lodge, have owners moving their focus to restaurants as a source of income. "We don't provide TV or AC so the cost is relatively less,"says Manohar Shetty, owner of the latter establishment. "So let's see. We will remain open as long as we can afford it."
"The solution is to constantly keep reinventing," says Sujata Rao, co-partner at New Vasantashram. The 67-year-old lodge recently decided to reach out to younger patrons, and position itself as a clean, affordable option for foreign tourists as well. "We began advertising in colleges and a lot of our customers are students," explains Rao. "There are also people here on 'staycations', which means they live in Mumbai itself but want to explore another part of the city over the weekend."
Aryanivas's co-owner Agastya Bhatt explains that the older lodges have the advantage of extremely low costs and prime locations on their side. "Which other hotel will charge you as little as we do?" he says. "So if you remember that, and adapt with the changing times, there is no reason why your clients will desert you."
The place seems to run like a well-oiled machine, and it is only after a glance around the mostly defunct kitchen area that the signs of wear become apparent. The tea bubbles over on a solitary stove, unlike five years ago, when the kitchen dished out sumptuous meals to its guests.
"We used to serve everything from Gujarati rotlas and meetha dal, to chhaas, masala doodh, khichdi and papad earlier," recalls cashier Jagdish Jani, who has worked here for over three decades. "Masala doodh dal ke jaise behta tha (We used to serve masala doodh as often as you'd serve dal)." With inflation and a large chunk of the staff moving to greener pastures, the lodge shut down its kitchen in 2009.
The situation gets much bleaker at Ramakrishna Guest House in Matunga. A dark, creaky stairway, paan-stained walls and a surly warden welcome you to the establishment. "Yes, yes, look around if you want," says the silver-haired caretaker, ambling off to shake out a mattress. "There's no one here." Out of the available 18 rooms, about 12 are shut and a couple others lie unoccupied.
Ramkrishna Guest House
Address: Dadlawala Sudan, Telang Rd, Matunga East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400019
Phone:022 2402 1805
ReviewsAryanivas and Ramakrishna are among the last
remaining low-cost, non-boarding and no-frills lodges still holding out
in the city. Scattered across the busier localities of south and central
Mumbai, they are characterised by high ceilings, dormitories with iron
or wooden beds, spacious balconies and tariffs beginning from Rs 170 for
a single bed in a four, six or eight-bed
With some having
been set up decades ago, they are also storehouses of memories. Jani
recalls the time during the Independence movement when Subhas Chandra
Bose delivered a speech atop a still-preserved table in the lodge and
theatre actors from Gujarat stayed the night before performing in
Bhangwadi. At New Vasantashram
in CST, diamond traders from as far as Burma talked shop in the
evenings. "And there were people lining the corridor to watch the one
television set we have," says veteran caretaker Keshav, who learnt over
eight languages just from listening to the patrons gossip. The earliest clientele at these establishments, says city historian Deepak Rao, comprised traders from across the country, looking for clean, affordable lodging close to their place of business. "Bombay has always had a history of people coming here for work," Rao says. "There were a number of lodges catering to them in Kalbadevi, Grant Road, Bombay Central and CST." The less-congested neighbourhoods such as Matunga drew migrants from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, who felt at home among the glut of South Indian eateries and temples.
But over the years, with rising costs and a dwindling clientele, survival has become increasingly difficult. Some, such as Aryanivas, have cut out meals while others such as Matunga's Manohar Lodge, have owners moving their focus to restaurants as a source of income. "We don't provide TV or AC so the cost is relatively less,"says Manohar Shetty, owner of the latter establishment. "So let's see. We will remain open as long as we can afford it."
"The solution is to constantly keep reinventing," says Sujata Rao, co-partner at New Vasantashram. The 67-year-old lodge recently decided to reach out to younger patrons, and position itself as a clean, affordable option for foreign tourists as well. "We began advertising in colleges and a lot of our customers are students," explains Rao. "There are also people here on 'staycations', which means they live in Mumbai itself but want to explore another part of the city over the weekend."
Aryanivas's co-owner Agastya Bhatt explains that the older lodges have the advantage of extremely low costs and prime locations on their side. "Which other hotel will charge you as little as we do?" he says. "So if you remember that, and adapt with the changing times, there is no reason why your clients will desert you."
Arya Nivas
270/286 Kalbadevi Road | Sector 2, Kalbadevi, Oppos, Mumbai 400 002, India
Hotel amenities
8 traveller photos
Noida
Senior Reviewer
7 reviews
6 hotel reviews
Reviews in 6 cities 
20 helpful votes
I was told that is is a heritage hotel. The internet reviews were
equally misleading. Folks, sleep on the pavements of Mumbai but do not
stay at Arya Niwas. This is a 95 years old heritage hotel which must
have seen better days when there was no AC, TV, or WiFi.
Steer clear from this dilapidated joint. There is no...
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Ramkrishna Hotel
Dadrawala Society,Telang Road | Matunga, Mumbai 400019, India
Hotel amenities
3 traveller photos
