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| E & O Hotel |
E & O Hotel was officiated in 1885 with the merging of Eastern Hotel and Oriental Hotels, both built by Armenian Sarkies brothers.The brothers were also instrumental in the establishment of many hotels in the region including Raffles Hotel in Singapore. E & O boasts of being host to many notables celebrities like Rudyard Kipling (author of Jungle Book), Douglas Fairbank (silent movie star of the 30s), Charlie Chaplin (needs no introduction), Sun Yat-sen (Founding Father of Modern China) and many more.
In 1893, during a 10year celebratory luncheon, Sir Frank Swettenham (then the Resident General of Malay States) cracked a joke about the Sarkies brothers. ‘A little boy was asked by his teacher in Perak who the Sakais were, and replied that they were people who kept hotels.’
(The Sakais are one of the indigenous races of Malaysia.)
Just like the 'Spotted Dogs' in Kuala Lumpur (Royal Selangor Club), E & O was the favourite rendezvous for the ruling elites and their apple polishers (a.k.a. ball carriers) - i.e. locals with unabated zest to rub shoulders and hang out with their colonial masters and probably lived off their crumbs - while the rest of Malaya and the subjects of the Empire were busy living a living hell for self-rule!
When I was about 10 or so, my maternal grandfather was working as a driver in a mansion near this prestigious hotel. I remember my sisters and I were looking from outside the fence like refugee children at the merrymaking hotel guests during one Christmas eve. Funny how after 2 scores of years later, we are all on the inside of the fence in a merrymaking mood ourselves!
The 50th Wedding Anniversary is a symbolic one. It is an announcement that the descendants of maids, labourers and drivers have indeed come a long way since their great ancestors decided to take that tug boat to Malaya in search of better lives...
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| Arshak, Tigran, Aviet Sarkies (Clockwise from top) Iranians of Armenian ethnicity |
