"Delhi is a soldiers' town, a politicians' town, journalists' town, and a diplomats' town." Jan Morris wrote that it was Asia's Washington, though not so beautiful.
There is only one culture in Delhi.
Delhi has experienced a sea change over the past 20 years. Delhi has doubled its number of high-net-worth individuals in five years thanks to a real estate boom and the rise of the high-tech suburb of Gurgaon.
The crowd gallery-hops, shops and other chills can be found south. On the edge of Delhi's Outer Ring Road lies the rising neighborhoods of Lado Sarai and Mehrauli's "Style Mile".
Bhim Bachchan, who returned to Delhi after working in U.S. investment banking, runs an e-commerce studio and resort wear store in the Soho-esque Hauz Khas Village. The hot spots on the edge of town are home to a new class of hip, young, often wealthy people from both the suburbs and central Delhi. During Covid, they've been isolated. They're out now.
The Qutab Minar is a 238-foot-high sandstone tower that is illuminated after dark and is a great place to go for a walk. There are ruins that look like dinosaur bones.
Visitors coming by taxi to the most established of these neighborhoods get dropped in a parking lot a few yards from the village's three main streets that circle into each other next to a deer park. Teens in heavy metal T-shirts sit astride the broken domes of madrasas that used to be where Muslim scholars used to study. The village is named after the Royal Water Tanks, which still surround it like a guard against the city's noise and pollution.
One can find little treasures like the Bana studio, which sells one-off vintage tribal jewelry and has framed pictures of George Harrison. Bollywood movie posters and lobby cards can be found at AllArts. I went to the Blossom Kochhar spa, cafe and natural beauty boutique for a relaxing massage and tea.
At night, popular bars and nightclubs compete for the attention of Delhi's trendy young people. The rooftop Imperfecto and the industrial scrap-metal aesthetic of Social are currently the winning spots.
A more cutting-edge contemporary art scene is flowering a few blocks east of the Qutab Minar, amid the tire shops.
The founder of Gallery 1000A tells me that it is similar to the East Village of Delhi. The area is now home to a number of contemporary art galleries.
On a recent summer afternoon, Mr.Punchathu and his assistants were in the middle of setting up a multimedia exhibition, featuring works by five Indian artists, including remarkable, illuminated, icon-like engravings of what appeared to be perturbing cells by the Delhi. I didn't know how his engravings were made. Mr. Punchathu said that the method he developed was a novel one. Local techniques that aren't well known in the west are used by our artists.
One of the galleries that anchored Lado Sarai over a decade ago was called Latitude 28 and was located far from the city center. Mr.Punchathu said that they have since caught up. A multimedia show called "The World Awaits You Like a Garden" was on display at the gallery. One of the most striking works by the artist Gopa Trivedi was a depiction of Mughal court miniatures with highly detailed illustrations of plants.
The Indian contemporary art scene has been growing. One of the most authoritative contemporary art magazines in Asia is published out of the gallery by Ms. Kakar. A lot of people spend a lot of time in their homes and want something good on their walls. They are not looking as far away.
I had already breakfasted on a Paris-worthy croissant and coffee at Miam Patisserie down the street, so I was looking for a place to eat lunch. There are a dozen of the best galleries in Asia, but only a French patisserie to provide sustenance.
The style mile is a 15-minute walk from the base of the Minar. One needs to scratch the surface to find the shiny things, and at first glance the Kalka Das Marg seems to be a dull street. You emerge from a courtyard lined with shops and restaurants after wandering down alleys. I discovered the whitewashed Cubist pavilion of the Ambawatta One complex, where I gaped at the high-end fashion stores, cafes and galleries that felt like the Delhi version of Rodeo Drive. In contrast to Mumbai, which only has a single tropical season, Delhi has multiple seasons and a broader variety of high fashion peeking out of the windows of its shops.
When the Qutab Minar is lit up at sunset, it makes the Style Mile even more charming.
One of the hardest places to get a dinner reservation in Delhi is at Rooh, in the Style Mile, where the young and bejeweled risk scratching their cars in the cramped parking lot. They step up to the rooftop dining terraces to enjoy great fusions of Indian and Italian dishes.
A lot of spaghetti with tomato dum sauce or tandoori portobello with black garlic butter pao were accompanied by an impressive wine list. The bright saris and dark suits, the constant clinking of glasses, and the formidable gold jewelry gave a glamorous sense of the city's newfound wealth and confidence.
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