Ode to Airlines Hotel: Where Masala Dosas and Playtime Linger

Airlines Hotel has long felt like home to an old Bangalorean. Being a fourth-generation Bangalorean, Airlines has been a huge part of my life.

This account comes from my childhood, when I was very little and made little sense of the world. Yet this memory holds a special place in my mind, representing some of the best times of those years.

Going out on weekends meant spending time in and around the MG Road area, and Airlines Hotel was a significant part of those outings. The hotel, which still stands today, looks very different from the one I remember. It was a true drive-in. The premises had two gates, allowing you to drive in through one and exit through the other.

There was a play area located in the portion that now houses the canteen. It had a slide, a swing set, a see-saw, a merry-go-round, and a jungle gym, all set in a bed of sand with patches of concrete. We would roll in the sand, eagerly waiting our turn on the slide, which was by far our favourite.

Masala Dosa at Airlines Hotel

Beyond the play area stood a neat row of tables where our masala dosa awaited. This was the outdoor seating area. Past this ran the tarred pathway that functioned as the drive, followed by the hotel and its rooms. There was also an indoor seating area where food was served, so when a light drizzle began, we would rush indoors to claim a seat and eat our favourite dosa. Coffee was served in white porcelain cups and saucers, and there was no jeera water in the tall glasses you see today.

The building was Art Deco styled and whitewashed, with a green border, if I recall correctly. I was very young when it looked like this, so I might be mistaken about the green border.

When you played in the children’s area or sat at the outdoor tables, you could look over the wall and see the road. The name board, however, has remained the same.

For those of us who grew up in the cantonment, masala dosa was closely associated with Airlines Hotel. While places like CTR, Vidyarthi Bhavan, and MTR were always part of the city’s food story, visiting them often felt like a long-distance outing, and our memories of masala dosa were shaped by visits to Airlines.

Later, a supermarket opened towards the right-hand curb, which we considered quite fancy. In the early 90s, there were barely any supermarkets in Bangalore. There was Spencer’s on MG Road and Nilgiris, which were considered supermarkets in the MG Road area.

This supermarket at Airlines served a hot chocolate fudge at the billing counter (that’s another story waiting to be told), which my father discovered and made quite sure we tried.

Airlines Hotel may have changed over the years, but for me it remains a marker of childhood, family, and the Bangalore I call home.