Bangalore club opens its ballot for women

BANGALORE, JULY 14: There are women who have waited 15 years to get into a place which still has this sign outside the exclusive men's bar...

BANGALORE, JULY 14: There are women who have waited 15 years to get into a place which still has this sign outside the exclusive men8217;s bar: Women and Children Not Allowed. Those beating down the doors may tell you it is an elitist thing, without embarrassment, where being able to walk inside the hallowed portals makes them feel like they belong. For them, this is a moment in time to treasure; the 132-year-old Bangalore Club has allowed women to become voting members for the first time in its history.

President Dayanand Pai says, 8220;It8217;s definitely a good thing.8221; He can see better administration if women get involved in it, especially as 8220;Our vast country was governed by a lady and we have so many good State Cabinet members who are women.8221;

8220;Ladies,8221; says M Bhaktavatsala, former president of the Club, 8220;could not even enter until 1936. It is a major change, but the men have been fighting a losing-battle for years. It8217;s come about finally because they would have been pressured by their women. Women are using the Club more, so men have realised that it was time to give them the vote.8221;

Bhaktavatsala has written a book on the subject, so much on Citizens8217; minds these days, called Club World, a part of which dwells on events that took place around the world and of which the Club had been oblivious.

That8217;s ironic, because the idea of the Bangalore Club is to a large extent based on the same blinkered view of the world. Some might say that in a Third World country, members of clubs simply tom-tom the fact that they are more equal than others; that they have taken the place of our conquerors; that they are in effect the Black Raj. But perhaps that8217;s 8220;looking at it in a warped way the way we do every good thing in India8221;, as Chayya Srivatsa, founder-trustee, Guild of Women Achievers, says about the current talk raging on exactly whose good offices women owe the changed rule to.

She said, 8220;It has been something I8217;ve been vociferously pursuing for years.8221; She believes the change finally happened because 8220;A lot of members have daughters. But really, if the country has given you suffrage, why shouldn8217;t a Club? The only reason they did not was because it was not in the Constitution of the Club and members could never agree on changing it. You can never stop a movement.8221;

Chayya is a torch-bearer in more ways than one. She is living proof of why membership is so coveted. 8220;Club-membership is what money cannot buy. And the Bangalore Club is one of the oldest, with such an ambience. You can sit under probably a 100-year-old tree and history comes flashing before your eyes.8221; Other clubs cater to the specific locality, or like the KGA, 8220;doesn8217;t have squash or a pool or a spa or even a Foodworld outlet!8221; says Chayya, which are all important because 8220;It makes you feel pampered8221;.

Story continues below this ad

That is not a feeling to be taken lightly. You need five signatures apart from a 15-year waiting period and an interview to get into the Bangalore Club 8211; and people have been known to book the signatures, too. There are various kinds of membership, from permanent to corporate, associate, long-term temporary A 3-year period for those in transferable employment where you pay Rs 750 per month, to defense and civil service. The admission rates vary from Rs 30,000, to Rs 15 lakh for corporates. Members from the civil service need pay only Rs 5,000, while defense personnel have no entrance fee, only the monthly subscription of Rs 150. All this is, of course, if you get in.

Time waits for no man, but it does for women; and Bangalore seems to be the latest in a Karnataka wave. After 100 years, the Dharwad Officers8217; Club recently elected a woman-president and the Hubli Gymkhana Club also opened its membership to the fairer sex. Why not? 8220;It8217;s time women were leading from the front,8221; says Dr Ashok Shenoy, professor amp; head, Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Kidwai, and a Bangalore Club member. 8220;The old customs are on the wane and people want to get on with what8217;s fair.8221;