Bankipore Club in eye of a storm

PATNA: Legendary cricketer W G Grace used to love this place located on the banks of the Ganga. Mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary preferred to stay here when he undertook a rowing expedition across the Ganges.
The Bankipore Club, one of the oldest clubs in the eastern India and one of the few remaining legacies of the British Raj, has had its moments of glory.Today, it is in a dilapidated condition with its roof threatening to crumble any moment. Besides, the club is also dogged by intense internal bickerings and legal wrangles.
"The piano in the dancing room has vanished into thin air. So have the bathtubs, carved out of marbles in the British era. The tennis lawn is being used as a car parking space. The library has stopped adding new books into its collection. All that remains of the British Raj is only its name," remarked Ratnesh Kumar Rahi, an advocate of the Patna High Court and a permanent member of the club.
It''s not that there are no members. The club, affiliated to over 100 clubs across the country, has 600 permanent members, an equal number of service members and an unspecified number of casual members.
"There should be a difference between a club and a hotel. This club has lost its exclusiveness. Unlike yesteryear, when every Tom, Dick or Harry did not muster enough courage to enter the club, today even officers-in-charge of police stations have been made members of the club," rued an old member of the club.
Lately, the club has got entangled in a series of controversies pertaining to the annual elections scheduled to be held on Thursday. The last annual general meeting of the club was held in May, 2000. The meeting had resolved by a voice vote to call an extraordinary general meeting to discuss an amendment in an article in which the terms of the office-bearers of the executive committee was fixed for three terms in continuity.