The last time I came to Mumbai, I noticed that the main entrance of the Taj Mahal Hotel has a very peculiar design, facing the city of Mumbai in the opposite direction instead of facing the sea to the east.

India is a country in the northern hemisphere, and it is simply anti-human to build a house in such a direction, even if Mumbai has no shortage of light, but it is still a little difficult to figure out how to build a house facing west.

Whether the west-facing gate was meant to be a sign that British colonists were not welcome to enter India by sea, or legend has it that the construction team had reversed the designer's drawings or to prevent the sea breeze from the guests who came here – whatever the reason, the design of the hotel's door orientation is absolutely unusual.

The second time he came here, Zhang Nan also knew more about this legendary hotel: there is no one of the most luxurious hotels in India, and this "Taj Mahal" comes from Arabic, which means "place to place the crown", and the famous "Taj Mahal" actually has nothing to do with it, so you don't have to live in fear.

The Taj Mahal Hotel is just a rumor.

On this trip to Mumbai, the Taj Mahal Hotel is the place where Zhang Nan and his party stayed, because Mumbai is only a window to the outside world for the Manu-Jain family, and their base is in their hometown in Gujarat, so the foothold in Mumbai (just where they live, not even home. ) is an entire floor apartment in a high-end apartment complex.

The house is expensive, but it is not suitable for entertaining guests.

Wealthy Indians like to live with their friends, but in Mumbai, Manu can't invite wedding guests to his "foothold", his in-laws have a huge estate on the outskirts of Mumbai, but Manu can't let his guests live with his in-laws.

Luckily, there is a Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai!

It may be rude to let the guests who come to the wedding stay in other hotels, but it will not be arranged at the Taj Mahal Hotel, even if the President of the United States or the Queen of England comes, it will not be rude, because this is the Taj Mahal, the crown and legend of all India hotels!

Of course, Manu Jia Yin had invited Zhang Nan and his entourage to visit his hometown in Gujarat in the northwest after attending the official wedding the day after tomorrow, so as to truly fulfill the friendship of landlords.

Zhang Nan readily agreed, and after going to Gujarat, which borders Pakistan, he had to go to Varmar's house in Kerala, the southernmost state of India, to be a guest again.

Not for anything else, just to hunt tigers again.

......

The last time I entered the hotel from the main entrance on the west side, it would be interesting, the convoy stopped on the side of the road on the sea side, and before I got out of the car, I saw a few Indian policemen with long sticks standing on the road to maintain order, and the armed police led by the old acquaintance Singh were indispensable.

But don't arm the policemen who drive the cattle sticks properly, because these guys are here, and the low-caste Indian people don't dare to approach at all.

Because there is a sidewalk on the seaward side of the road, many dark Indians are standing there watching the excitement: the tourists are afraid to come at all, not only because of the presence of the cattle police, but also because of a rope fixed to the lamp poles separating the Indians from the road and the legendary hotel in their hearts.

Class, in other countries, as long as you don't dress like a beggar, you don't live in this five-star hotel, go in and walk, rub the air conditioner, take a break, borrow a bathroom, these are all casual, no one will care about you.

But not in India, where many tourists across the road think, "When I'm developed, I'll have to go to the Taj Mahali side." ”

Thinking like this, it may be a regular company working in a regular company, or it may be a small foreman in a factory, a small businessman with a little money, or a small civil servant from a small place...

In other countries, the hotel will let these people in, but not in India - it's not that the hotel security guards won't let you in, as long as you are neatly dressed, the security guards won't stop you, but this is the class concept in the bones of Indians.

Just watched from afar.

As for the low-caste and untouchables, even if it is, oh, a million-one, developed, they will not dare to enter the Taj Mahal!

It's a very interesting scene, but in the eyes of Indians, it's all normal, and Ah Sange thinks that "you gangsters think our system is weird" is a strange thing!

Parked, then get out of the car, Zhang Nan's two flesh shield bodyguards Mark brothers blocked the view on the east side like a gate, Zhang Nan took his daughter and looked at the hotel in front of him on the first floor of the main building, a double-open copper pillar glass door with a small face.

A long red carpet runs from the doorway straight into the hotel's main building, where his butler, Tom Jackson, and several hotel executives in suits wait inside and outside the figure-eight doorway.

Charize Theron, Swarzenegger, Nicole Kidman and others, who have also gotten off the bus, also find such a hotel door a bit strange, and it really does not match this India's No. 1 hotel, which is very famous in the Western world.

Hollywood stars haven't been here and don't know that the hotel's real door is on the other side of the west-facing side.

What's the situation?

As soon as Madehuri Dixit, who was on the same page as Chariz Theron Station, got off the train and saw the doorway and the red carpet, she immediately whispered to the other people who came with her: "This is the hotel..."

She is a native of Mumbai, and a high-caste Brahmin with a family of classical dancers, and knows the inside story of Taj Mahal, which ordinary people don't know.

That's a good thing!

Seeing Zhang Nan standing at the door, he seemed to feel a little emotional, and he didn't immediately step into the hotel, Manu and Davenral Varma were also introducing him on the side.

The former smiled and said: "Alan, this is the door that the Taj Mahal Hotel will open to welcome the most important VIPs, of course, the friends and attachés of the VIPs can also enter from here, but they cannot enter and exit from here at will."

This door was opened for our esteemed Mr. Allen, the Grand Chief of Botswana, because this was a celebration of such a wedding, and my daughter, son-in-law, and other important guests on these two days were able to enter and exit the hotel. ”

"What is the rule for the most distinguished guests to go through the small door on this side instead of the main entrance?"

The space on the side of the road is narrow, and when the convoy stops, there are only two lanes left, which is awkward. And Zhang Nan was puzzled: What does this have to do with being the chief of the Tswa people?

Still not leaving, I looked at the small doorway a few meters ago, and wanted to see something special. At this time, he heard Valma on the other side of him say: "In principle, this door is only open for the heads of royal family and government, and after the red carpet is rolled out, it will not be removed until the VIP who enters this door leaves the hotel." ”

Varma's voiceover Zhang Nan understood: Similar to a Saudi prince who came to Mumbai to live in Taj Mahal, before the Saudi prince left the hotel, even if the British prince arrived in Mumbai, he would never stay in this hotel, because it was only open for the Saudi prince during the few days when the Saudi prince stayed.

Unless two princes are here for the same thing, such as attending the same meeting, attending the same wedding, or if they are friends when they are sick, only cases like this will make an exception.

The king does not see the king, and the privilege of opening this door will only be provided for one person for a certain period of time, and the others will come and touch the ashes?

Strange conventions, I don't know who was the first to set this rule, enough for.

Then I thought: probably the last time I came was not important enough, so I didn't enter and exit through this door by myself.

After listening to Varma's words, Zhang Nan said to him with a little confusion: "I, the chief, is a royal family?"

Davenral, you're a member of the royal family, aren't you?"

Hearing this, Davenral Valmar smiled and said, "I can walk through this door, but this time you are the guest of honor, and this door is open for you this time."

Manu has been covering the entire hotel for almost a week, and from today onwards, the door will be open.

Besides, Alan, you are a member of the Botswana Council of Chiefs, and according to Indian tradition, you are a real royalty, and in old India you were a real local prince. ”

Well, I've become a member of the royal family, what's this called?

Members of the royal family, why do you sound so rotten.

In fact, when he was still in the car just now, Manu Jia Yin said that this trip was arranged for Zhang Nan to be the best and most upscale Tata Suite in the hotel, which made him a little depressed!

Why?

It turns out that the presidential suite that I stayed in last time is not the best suite in this hotel at all, maybe the Tata suite has been booked in advance by others, or some VIP who walked through this door.

Even if the $10,000-a-day suite is unoccupied, it's possible that you didn't book your stay longer than the previous guest left the hotel for 3 days.

Very strange provisions!

For each guest in that suite, it takes three days from the day the guest leaves to thoroughly clean and furnish the suite to ensure that the suite is flawless.

When a new guest checks in, there must not be a trace of smell in the entire suite other than the smell of fresh flowers!

In Taj Mahal, the Tata Suites are the most upscale, and the founder of this hotel is called Jamshetji Tata, and the suites are named after him.

One of his buddies, Tata, is said to have been provoked for a while when he was alive about the hotel: once he and his British friends went to another hotel near the current Taj Mahal Hotel for tea, and Jamshetji Tata was ruthlessly kicked out of the British-owned hotel.

Because he's an Indian!

The discrimination of "dogs and Indians" was ubiquitous in colonial India.

Tata was already a very successful entrepreneur in India at the time, and he was fully entitled to be respected, and after this humiliating time, Jamshetji Tata did not think about creating a rebellion against the British, but decided to build the most luxurious hotel in India, and he succeeded.

A year before his death, the Taj Mahal Hotel was opened and was still a hotel open to Indians.

The royal family is the royal family, in the northern region of Botswana, Zhang Nan seems to be not much different from a local emperor, and his actual power and prestige have surpassed that of the local king, but he didn't want to completely empty people.

Let's enter the door, but before walking into this special door in front of him, Zhang Nan asked the two of them one last question: What kind of plane is this hotel, and why is this VIP door arranged here!

This position looks awkward.

"A legend, but it should be a fact. When King George V and Queen Mary arrived in Mumbai in 1911, it was through this door that they entered the Taj Mahal Hotel, as George V refused to enter the hotel through the west gate.

The hotel did not welcome the British, with its back to the India Gate, and George V preferred to enter the Taj Mahal from the east. ”

Well, that's a legend, but it's very likely to be true, otherwise what brainless hotel would leave such a strange rule and tradition.

I really don't know how long the brain circuit of Indians is, if Zhang Nan was the owner of this hotel, he would have sealed this door a long time ago, and he would definitely not keep it as an eyesore.

However, Zhang Nan is not Indian, so there is no pressure to enter through this strange door.

It's been a long time, let's go inside.

This time in, there is a middle-aged Indian in his forties on behalf of the hotel to welcome Zhang Nan and others to stay in Taj Maha, this person Zhang Nan has the impression that he appeared when he came here last time, and he is the general manager of the hotel.

The hotel put on such a welcome posture, which can't be counted as a grand walk-in, because there is still a small ceremony to welcome VIPs.

But it's quite strange, the last time the general manager welcomed his arrival, he greeted him warmly and shook hands, but this time he paused and stretched out his hand after Zhang Nan stretched out his hand.

Reach out with the others or Mr. Manager first...

Oh, it seems that there is another Varma who is also treated this way, and the descendants of the earth king seem to be accustomed to it.

Zhang Nan's reaction was not slow, and he understood what the reason was for a turn of his brain: interesting, he became a royal family member in the eyes of Indians, according to the rules of the decadent era, unless he reached out first, the hotel staff could not reach out to himself first, otherwise it would be rude to the royal family.

After the handshake is to offer flowers, each guest is put on a garland made of flower petals around his neck, fortunately this is a very westernized hotel, otherwise according to the Indian tradition, Zhang Nan as the guest of honor, the wreath on the neck will be thick and long, directly beyond the knee position.

A middle-aged woman dressed in a gorgeous sari dangled twice in front of her eyes with a metal plate lit with an oil lamp, which was also a kind of welcome blessing ceremony.

The bodyguards don't do this, the hotel management is not so brain-dead, and the other guests are treated the same as Zhang Nan, that is, Madehuri Dixit is specially taken care of: the middle-aged woman in the sari has a red dot on the head with something like rouge.

Other people originally had this treatment, but because just now when the sari woman wanted to nod on Zhang Yuchen's child's forehead, she was stopped by Guan Xingquan on the side.

Messy things, touch less!

The passage is quite long, and there is a welcome item before entering the hall - a middle-aged Indian man dressed in red sits cross-legged on a low table like a snake charmer, with more than 20 large and small porcelain bowls poured with water in front of him, which are played with two sticks hitting the rim of the bowl to play nice music.

Listening to Manu's introduction that this is the Jatron music bowl, a traditional Indian music art, which will only be played on important occasions: a group of Americans felt so surprised, but Zhang Nan, the guest of honor, didn't feel it at all, so he praised it politely.

Xiang Weirong and Guan Xingquan knew the reason: it was just a small means to control the scale with water, and they didn't want to think about who invented porcelain.