When Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie twirled in the grand masquerade ball in season four of Bridgerton, capturing viewers’ attention with their chemistry, their stunning outfits and taking us to a fantasy version of Regency England – it got us wondering, did glamorous balls like these happen in Bengaluru too? Here’s what we learnt from the city’s historians.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Bangalore in 1791, four years before the Regency period started in England, the city was transitioning into a stronghold for the British East India Company and grand balls were the last thing on anyone’s mind. The British presence in the city was majorly of soldiers who often settled down with Indian women. However, this began to change when India came under the control of Queen Victoria after the revolt of 1857, with a new crop of eligible bachelor bureaucrats in need of wives. “Once the Queen took over, marrying ‘natives’ became strictly forbidden. Around this time, with the Suez Canal opening, it became much easier for British women to come to India in what were called ‘fishing fleets’. These ships would leave from Southampton full of young, eligible women, with their chaperones looking to find a man in India to marry,” explains historian Roopa Pai. Once here, the girls often had a few months to secure a husband and with him, their future. “Somebody [usually a relative] would put them up or they would pay for someone to host them, so they had a brief window. They would attend all the balls, usually in places like Ooty and Shimla, to find someone. Since India was called the jewel in the crown of the British empire, only the top officers were sent here so if you managed to marry one of them, your life was made. The ones who did not find a suitor were given a rather cruel name ‘returned empties.’
Two places that definitely hosted glamorous balls, although centered on diplomacy and politics than debutantes, were Bangalore Palace and The Residency (now Lok Bhavan and once occupied by British Residents to the Kingdom of Mysore). “It was a prominent venue for balls, banquet and ballroom dancing. A separate ballroom, constructed in 1874 for hosting the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) who visited India, was named ‘Serapis Room’ after the ship that brought the Prince to Mumbai,” says history researcher Arun Prasad. “The pecking order of balls was organised by the status of the individual living in that region. Here, the biggest social event would have been if the resident or the Maharaja threw a ball,” adds historian Ramjee Chandran.
When it comes to debutante balls hosted by and for the aristocracy to find matches, historians say that if they did take place in one of the city’s many large bungalows, information is scarce. However, the scale of parties shown in Bridgerton would not have been possible to replicate in the city with the relatively small number of Europeans and the messy dynamics between groups.
Social Clubs that are still active today, such as Bangalore Club, established in 1868 as the Bangalore United Services Club for British officers and Bowring Institute founded in the same year, hosted social balls and dances for their members too. Bangalore Club initially limited membership to British officers. “At these balls, the culture was like the European formal dances, in terms of clothing, etiquette, etc,” comments Prasad. But where could the lower-ranked, younger, soldiers go for a good time? Where young Bengalureans go today. Chandran explains, “Dance halls were for the common people – officers would come to MG road while younger officers and soldiers would go to Brigade Road which was a young, more rowdy place.” Prasad points to some other places in the area that used to be popular dance halls, saying, “The old police commissioner’s office on Infantry Road was once a dancing hall. MG Road housed a bar called ‘Funnel’, run by an old Irish couple, which was a popular spot for dances, especially during World War I. The BRV theatre building on Cubbon Road was a dance hall too.” The YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) dances too were popular events, notes Prasad, elaborating, “People used to stay out late at night, early into the morning for these dances which often had themes like Fairyland, Valentine Ball, Chinatown, etc.”
The grand Regency-era balls we see in Bridgerton evolved from medieval European court rituals meant to reinforce social hierarchies as Chandran explains, “Women seeking men to marry is peripheral to the business of having balls,” he says, adding, “It was a political activity dressed up like glamour, which is why it was so important to the Western world. Who sat where, who danced with whom, who approached whom – it was all a statement of hierarchy. They treated dancing as something that had to have social rules in them. A noble who danced well was seen as highly educated and able-bodied. It was around the time of Louis IV that balls started to become what we see in Bridgerton and other period dramas – less political and royal but more social. They began to be held for all sorts of reasons like introducing debutantes, for marriages and alliances, for political occasions, etc.”