Members raise beer toast to Bangalore Club

Bengaluru: The Bangalore Club has had a host of troubles to deal with of late, but being granted their CL-6 licence for beer was reason enough to celebrate. Around 1400 members gathered at the Club lawns on Sunday afternoon, for the first party after the beer licence was granted.

The "beer-ed out, BBQ-ed out and Biriyani-ed out" party, as comedian Rubi Chakravarti put it, was also the members' way of showing their solidarity toward the club management. They ran out of beer and food and the service was not up to par, by the management's own admission, but none of that mattered as old friends caught up, gossip was traded and people remembered the good ol' days, even if the club's legal struggles are far from over.

“Things had been very dull over the last few weeks, after the club stopped serving alcohol,” said Chakravarti. “It's not that people only go there to drink, but the bar was a great place to catch up with friends on a weekend. When the club sent out an invite for the Sunday lunch, a few of us posted it on social media. We didn't expect a turnout like this, though!" She isn't exaggerating.

There was barely enough elbow room, lots of scrambling for chairs and those who attended had to either make sure they got their food before it ran out. "Even so, there was so much bonhomie in the air, people were laughing and talking. Nothing could dampen the mood." The club administration is as surprised as anybody by the response they received.

"We had made arrangements for about 800 people, but nearly twice that number showed up," said Mr K.D. Murthy, Secretary, Bangalore Club. "There wasn't enough room to sit, not enough food and drink to go around and the service was slow because of the crowd, but I didn't receive a single complaint. Yes, it was the first lunch since the CL-6 license was renewed, but more than that, this was the members' way of showing their support to the administration, no matter how things turn out."

The food was spectacular, that's what people have been talking about, said Priya Chetty-Rajagopal, CXO consultant and long-time Bengalurean. "I didn't go for the lunch myself, but my husband did and he said it was really something special. People were happy to be back, it finally felt like the old days. People are tired of being the victims in this controversy."

Another member of the club, also a prominent Bengalurean, echoed the sentiment, saying, "This is our way of letting the club administration know that we stand by them. It's a show of solidarity."

Case put off to August 6

The high court adjourned the hearing of Bangalore Club case to August 6, while allowing an interlocutory application of the club to add some additional grounds to their petition and asked them to serve a copy to the state government.