The British flag flutters atop the Royal Bombay Yacht Club in Colaba.

May 7: For a complete colonial experience in the 50th year of Indian Independence, please visit the Royal Bombay Yacht Club in Colaba. You won't have any difficulty in getting here - a distinctly British structure and the royal flag, with the Queen's emblem and the Union Jack , fluttering proudly atop it are difficult to miss.

The club, which continued with its Indians-not-allowed policy for over 15 years after the Indian Independence, even today adheres to the British tenets of style and demeanour. In fact, long after Indians were given membership of the club, they were restricted only to sailing and were actively discouraged from participating in other club activities.

However, that was then. Today, the flag and of course the all-British menu are the only symbols of the club's colonial past. And it appears that the former is providing much food for thought to the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch.

The Manch officials spoke to the RBYC officials about six to eight months ago about the undesirability of the flag. ``We requested the RBYC to change the flag. We were told that the matter would be discussed at a meeting.

Whether it was discussed or not, we do not know. But, it was quite obvious that the club is proud to fly the royal flag,'' said Anil Gachke, convenor, Mumbai chapter of the Manch.

And the Manch members are not the only ones flogging the club, patrons are also angry.

``It might be the tradition of yachting clubs to hoist the Royal flag, but why can't the Indian tricolour flutter along with it?'' asks a member.

When contacted by Express Newsline the club officials had no answer why they still fly the royal flag. One official, though made an half-hearted attempt: ``There's a charter...why don't you talk to the president.'' The club's president too was unwilling to answer. He, in turn, advised that this correspondent talk to the secretary. ``I have no other comments to make,'' he said ending the conversation rather unceremoniously.

Another official was more honest: ``We wish we knew why the flag is hoisted everyday. We have been privileged by the Queen to fly the flag for how many years, we don't know.''

The RBYC officials didn't also know if the plot of land on which the club today stands was still on lease. Request for an information brochure of the club too was shot down curtly. ``As has been told, we don't seek publicity.

After 150 years perhaps we might think of printing an information brochures.''

The British established Royal Yachting Clubs in almost every Common Wealth country which had a coastline. The RBYC was established way back in 1846. A founding member of the club, Philip Brag, made the `Seabird' and `Lightening' classes of yachts here. Yachts of these classes still exist.

Even after the British left India in 1947, Brag continued to live here. An expert in yacht building, he made `Suheli', which was the first yacht to sail around the world.

While nobody is denying the club its place in India's yachting history, its fixation with its past and the prejudices associated with it is being debated both in the club and outside. ``What probably was a practice in pre-independence India, has been continued even 50 years after the British have left. But the saddest part is that the people concerned `do not know why,'' said an observer.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.