THE PARK HOTELS

Hey! Mr Tambourine man,
play a song for me, I'm not
sleepy and there is no place
I'm going to..." Just swing
over to The Park

Move over clear light of day, make way for the romance of evening, and the pulse of a city starts to resonate in its night spots. Office routine and black-tie dinners, yawn-a-minute lectures at college-all recede into oblivion. You might want to just put up your feet at home, but then again you might want to end the day on a high. Opting for the latter, where do you head?

Kick off those daytime blues and put on your dancing shoes-head for The Park, whose pubs and discos come alive for young people seeking out places where energy is recharged and zestful spirits given free rein. Someplace Else is where one wants to be at the end of the day, where there's music and camaraderie, good food and all manner of spirits!

Fulfilling a long felt need in ways that are innovative and exciting, The Park launched Someplace Else in Calcutta and New Delhi. Transforming otherwise rather conventional cityscapes with these trendy little hotspots that manage to be an interesting fusion of club, pub and disco, The Park Calcutta and New Delhi have defined night moves differently. You can boogie till you drop (with a little help from DJs Anil and Sumedh), titillate the taste buds with a truly cosmopolitan menu, chat over a drink or even attend a book launch!

For an experience on a totally different scale, check out Tantra, the new nightclub at The Park, Calcutta. Both young and the young-at-heart are gravitating towards Tantra, and it continues to draw crowds every night. International designer Carl Ettesperger has endowed the place with a magical ambience that seems to spring from a confluence of modernity and tradition in an essentially Indian idiom. Design elements include jharokas in a contemporary style, Mandala murals, Tantric artefacts and colourful saris as drapes. A bejeweled 'prince' and 'princess' usher you into a split level 5000 sq.ft. arena, lit up by laser lights. DJs suspended in a box over the dance floor conjure up mad and magical moods, and the state-of-the-art music and lighting system transforms the dance floor into a psychedelic paradise.

More tea is drunk, worldwide, than any other beverage - except water. For many others, there is nothing quite as satisfying as a well-made, aromati cup of coffee. Both tea and coffee have acquired a vast multitude of followers, and have gamely held their own against the blitzkring of advertising compains that plug modern soft drinks. Tea and coffee have both been able to adapt themselves to different cultures. Perhaps their charm lies in the fact that they are not generally (we use the word generally with delibration, for teas and coffees have also succumbed to the designs of this eat -off-the

-shelf era) consumed straight from a can or a bottle. A good cup of tea or coffee both require preparation, stimulating inventiveness and creativity and the expression of individual taste.

Few would dispute the fact tea and coffee can be savored in different settings. A hot cup of 'adrak chai' (ginger tea) sipped on a cold water morning on a crowded railway platform is an experience completely different from tasting an exotic cup in a smart little bar in the city.

The Atrium Cafe at The Park , Calcutta, and Portico, the 24 hour coffee shop at The Park, New Delhi, now serve a range of teas and coffees that would please even the most exacting aficionados of these two beverages. At the Chai Bar, you can have everything from orthodox to herbal teas. From the gardens of Darjeeling, Assam and the Nilgiris, evoking the subtle fragrances of the wet and temperate climates of the region , come a range of teas that are not just a beverage but an experience.

The stimulating array of coffees include all-time favorites like Italian Cappuccino and Espresso. you can also savoir the delights of Jamaican Blue Mountain, Brazilian Santos or Mocha, as well as a range of organic coffees. For something quite different, try Cafe Royale, Irish coffee or My Fair Lady with creme de menthe. For the more adventurous palate, there are interesting combinations like the Cafe Cioccolocino, served with chocolate ice cream, topped with wiped cream and chocolate flakes. Sinful, but paradise!!

Tea Clipper Cocktail

Ingredients : Fresh apple juice, cinnamon tea (1/2 cup for 2 cups of water), ice cubes.

Mehtod: Boil 2 cups of water with cinnamon sticks. When water comes to a boil, add tea leaves and take off heat. Cover and leave for 4 minutes.

Strain. Chill tall cocktail glasses. To serve, place ice cubes in the bottom of each glass and pour in 1/3 tea and 2/3 apple juice.

Decorate with a slice of lime and serve cold

Cafe a I'Orange

Ingredients : 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 tbsp icing sugar, 1 tbsp orange zest, 2 1/2 cups hot coffee, 2/3 cup orange liqueur (Grand Marnier, Cointreau)

Method : Whip cream till stiff and fold in icing sugar and zest. Chill for 30 mins. Divide black coffee equally in 4 mugs and stir 2 tbsps of liqueur into eack. top with chilled cream and decorate with a wedge of orange.

The Old Testament advices:
Be not forgetful to
entertain strangers,
for thereby some have
entertained angels
unawares'.

The guest is special.
a no holds barred,
all stops pulled out
approach to
guest relations,
poineered bt The Park.

ARE YOU PREFERRED AT THE PARK

Do you fancy your morning cup with milk and sugar or would you rather a tangerine? Are you a health fanatic or do you have a yen for chocolates? imagine a hotel that goes beyond impersonality, that not only knows and understands your preferences, but also fulfils them. This is truly balm to the soul at the end of a tiring day.

'Preferred at The Park' is a unique rewards program which aims at building long term relationships with you, only rewarding you for your loyalty, but also providing incentives that are guaranteed to bring you back to The Park. this membership based program is operational at all The Park Hotels in New Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore and Visakhapatnam and cater to both corporate and individual frequent travelers.

At the core of this program lies the Smart Card which is an innovative and pioneering step in product enhancement. Looking much like the ubiquitous credit card, this one has an embedded chip which automatically tracks points and discounts and stores information on frequent customers. So, the minutes you check in, we know whether you like your coffee black or which newspaper you prefer!

Points accumulated by you can be redeemed for an exciting range of exclusive gifts and benefits. Apart from the usual presentations in the form of pens and perfumes, The Park has some unusual ones in store. You could have the thrill of your life while going whitewater rafting, don a designer outfit by Rohit Bal the Pasha of fashion, take an exotic break at a luxury heritage hotel in Rajasthan or even invite a chef home to whip up an exquisite meal. points can also be donated to institutions like WWF, CRY and Helpage India.

The Program offers annually renewable Room Memberships (Rs 500) and Dining Memberships(Rs 3000), and points are awarded to either account. As a privileged member, you can guaranteed a room and access to host of amenities and discounts. The Park Hotels, in its endeavor to provide you services that are a notch above the rest, have won the prestigious "Golden Peacock Innovative Product/Service Award" 1999-2000, in recognition of this unique service.

In a World where most would agree that loyalty is a neglected virtue, The Park begs to differ.

a confluence of cultures marked the millennium bash at the Park, Vizag. Calcutta's swinging sensation, HIP POCKET, wowed the crowd, and tribal dancers from coastal Andra pradesh performed a 'thapettigullu' dance. As the new millennium dawned, artists performed 'mohana ragas' on flute and tabla in the amphitheater.

magic and jugglery never fail to weave a spell. At the Atrium Cafe, Isabelle Feraud and Scott Harrison's travelling circus kept the audience captive with an entertaining program of power juggling, unicycling and doable magic. The Nashville Sprockets, as they are called, have spent more than seven years travelling around the globe. The Atrium Cafe, the Park, Calcutta was a stop midway through their world tour aboard their 1962 Bristol Decca bus.

provogue strode the fashion ramp in a bold new initiative at The Park, Calcutta. A bevy of beautiful people from the fashion world enlivened the show, which was compared by Rakshanda Khan. The star spangled banner of names included milind Soman, Dino Morea, Gladrags winner John Abraham, Bipasha Basu, Rajlaxmi, Anupama Verma.

as the first chain of boutique hotels in india, The Park Hotels are synonymous with elegance and luxury. the Park at Calcutta and New Delhi are the first five star deluxe hotels in India to become members of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World. The Park, Calcutta is also the proud recipient of one the National Tourism Awards (1998-99) given by the Department of Tourism, Government of India in Jan 2000, for excellence in the hotel industry. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Vijay Dewan, Vice President, The Park Hotels, said that the award is as an endorsement of the high standards that our Company constantly strives to achieve and maintain.

bollywood beauty Sonali Bendre lit up Someplace Else at The Park, Calcutta on 3 December 1999. The girl with the dazzling smile and hour glass figure was the cynosure of all eyes as she swayed to the pulsating rhythms through the night.

dancing sensation Prabhudeva and actor Partihan were guests at The Park, Vizag, during a shooting session in the city. Vizag hosted the Spirit of unity concert in January 2000, and noted playback singers Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik stayed at The Park.

new kids on the block Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel are the toast of Bollywood following their hit Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. Hordes of eager autograph hunters besieged them when they visited Tantra, the hot new nightspot at The Park, Calcutta on 6 January 2000.

the ad industry's first ever rock band comprising ad-men from Mumbai, 'Wanted Yesterday' performed at The Park, Kensington Terrace, Bangalore, on Feb 20, 2000. The event, organised by Channel V, featured Rajeev Raja, Creative Director, Bates Clarion on the flute and Prabhakar Mundkar, MD, Euro RSCG on lead guitar. Hosted jointly by The Park and Bacardi, the bash met with an enthusiastic response.

michel Sanchez and Eric Monquet, the due from the popular French group, deep Forest enjoyed a harmonious stay at the Park, New Delhi when they visited the city this winter. Combining ethnic and modern music and using technology to revive ancient and forgotten sounds is what Deep Forest have set out to do. "Sweet lullaby", their biggest hit, projected them onto the world stage.Their opinion of the Park? "Very international", just like their music.

Proudly poised on a rocky outcrop of the Aravalli ranges in the sleepy village of Delwara, stands the 18th century Devi Garh Fort Palace. Located 23 km north east of Udaipur city, off the Udaipur-Delhi highway, the Palace was bought by the Poddar family in the mid '80s. Years of neglect and disuse had rendered the once beautiful structure a near crumbling ruin, infested by bats. Much hard work, creative design and architectural inputs have gone into the restoration and re-building of the Palace, which has now opened its imposing doors to visitors in a stunning new avtar.

What better way to re-live the romance of the past in contemporary comfort than by spending a weekend at this Palace hotel. Its 23 spacious suites, individually designed and styled, have separate sitting and dining areas. Some of the suites even have dressing rooms and balconies and each one is, in every sense of the term, a room with a view. The Devi Garh Suite boasts a private jacuzzi and shares a black marble swimming pool and pavilion with the adjoining Pool Suite. For the more adventurous, luxury tents can be pitched out in the open for a communion with Nature.

The minimalist design has incorporated local materials (marble, semi-precious stones) and crafts (frescos, glasswork), blending both in ingenious ways into a setting where beauty and luxury coalesce with ease. The hotel offers all comforts one can think of, including conference and banquet facilities, complemented by highly personalised service. Guests can pamper their palates with Asian, including local Rajasthani, and Continental cuisine, and look forward to new treats on the menu every day.

Boutique Hotels India Limited is a division of ApeejaySurrendra Hotels, which has been started to provide management and marketing consultancy services in the hospitality industry. Devi Garh is one of the first hotels to which it is lending sales and marketing support through the various Sales offices of The Park Hotels.