‘Delhi is a city of secrets… everything’s hidden, you need a good guide’: US Ambassador Eric Garcetti

In a way, Garcetti is also a bit like the city. He is a former naval officer. He was Mayor of Los Angeles — twice. He has studied Hindi, and Indian culture and history, at Columbia University, from where he holds a Master’s degree from the School of International and Public Affairs. As a Rhodes Scholar, he studied at The Queen’s College, Oxford, and the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is also a pianist and photographer.

US Ambassador Eric Garcetti at an eatery in the city. (File Photo)

Garcetti, the 26th US Ambassador to India, spoke to The Indian Express for the first in a series of interviews with Ambassadors about Delhi — their home. Edited excerpts:

What is your favourite spot in Delhi?

It’s difficult to pick one… but I think the place I spent the most time (during this stint) was Lodhi Garden. You see kids playing, athletes practicing, couples holding hands, wedding pictures being taken, and yoga classes, all surrounded by history. It’s a very unique place in the world to see the collision of the modern and the ancient living in harmony…

Delhi reminds me a lot of my hometown, Los Angeles. Everything’s hidden, so you need a good guide. It’s a city of secrets and if you pass your secrets on to your friends, it’s almost like a scavenger hunt to find the best places. Much of Delhi is hidden behind walls or complexes or neighbourhoods. It’s very different from New York or Mumbai where it’s just, ‘Here I am, take me.’ I think cities like Delhi and Los Angeles say, ‘Here I am, but you have to find me’.

Can you list three things that have stood out in your stay so far?

I think the biggest surprise was riding the Metro… how clean, modern, and efficient it is. It’s one of the best in the world. The pink car for women also stood out. It is a place where you see the future of India coming up.

The second is cafe life. Delhi is definitely a city of cafes. I like going to Santushti. There’s a little cafe… I think it’s called Café Flora. It’s where I’ve met the smartest people in the world. Everybody’s a polymath — they’re like, ‘I was an ambassador. Here’s my book of poetry and I’m working on a TV series’. Conversations fuel this city. I would tell any diplomat, ‘Don’t just do business, experience living in this great city’ — arguably the second biggest in the world, but also the deepest city I’ve lived in, intellectually and culturally.
Third, this is a city of such amazing contrast. You can go to the spice market in Old Delhi or get a cup of tea from a chaiwala on the streets. Later, you can be at a brand-new mall… In certain parts of the world, you could have the ancient and it’s still alive and beautiful. In other cities, you have the modern. There are few cities where you could go 10-20 minutes away and see the past and future collide… You’ve gotta be careful in this city. When you turn a corner, you might end up seeing something you’ve never seen before.

What are the encounters here that will stay with you?

One is here in the embassy, where we have a volunteer project working with a girls’ home. Some of them are orphans, some just need a place to live… My daughter, Maya, is 12 and we spent the day volunteering with other people… where they taught us Indian arts and crafts; we did the same thing with some American customs and made T-shirts and bracelets and played games. You realise in any city, the best thing you can do is give yourself to (it) to actually serve your community…

I spoke at OP Jindal University and had such an amazing interaction with students. They asked tough questions about diplomacy in the state of the world and the United States and India. I feel we’re so lucky to live in democracies… And to see the aspirations of India, especially after the G-20… G20 showed this country off to the world and India’s ability to bring people together in an era of too many wars and conflict… I still think India has great contributions to harmony and peace in the world.

Your opinion on food in Delhi?

Delhi’s got to be one of the best eating towns in the world… first and foremost, the greatest secret is the bhavans. You can go to every state’s bhavan and eat the food. So, before I’ve travelled down to 23 states and territories in India… I’ll go to Tamil Nadu or the Andhra Pradesh bhavans and sample the food.

Americans think Indian food is just butter chicken, naan… if they’re adventurous, a dal… every dal, of course, is unique. But I love starting my day with chole bhature. And a good vada pav is impossible to beat. My favourite biryani is Hyderabadi biryani. I love spicy food. I think Indians mistakenly think Americans don’t like spicy food. I’m half Mexican. We eat with our hands. We have flatbreads, chilies. So it feels like home but with a new twist. And I just had an amazing dish — Laal Maas.

If I had to pick one thing, it would just be a South Indian thali. I’m a sucker for idlis and a coconut chutney. Just Indian food at its best is simple, straightforward, fresh and it fires you up for the day.

Your go-to locations to eat or order from?

I like to go to sample teas at Aapki Pasand. I love Cafe Flora. For high-end, sometimes we’ll go to Indian Accent, which is like an extraordinary voyage through modern Indian cuisine. There’s a place where I love going, where all the servers are deaf (Echoes Café)… everybody has to learn how to use sign language.

I think Delhi could use some really good Mexican restaurants. There are a couple of places like California Burrito and Taco Bell, good for Mexican fast food, but authentic Mexican food is very tough to find. That’s one thing missing along with a good, dense bagel. The bagels here are very light.

What’s that one thing you will miss about the city?

I don’t have plans to leave anytime soon. But when that day comes, I think I’ll miss the rare weekend when we have Saturday or Sunday off… My family and I would plan to visit a new place, whether it’s the National Gallery of Modern Art. We went last weekend to see Amrita Sher-Gil and Tagore paintings… We went to Tughlaqabad a couple of months ago. Here was this fortress castle community built 700 years ago. It only lasted for eight years. And yet you can walk there and look at what their mall was, you know with the marketplace underground. I will miss living in a city that is so full of multiple layers.

Delhi isn’t one city. It’s a dozen or more cities built on top of each other and rebuilt and abandoned and rediscovered.

Second, I’ll miss the people. If someone invites you to your house, it’s an adjustment for Americans. They say 8 pm. Here they mean… show up by 9… we’ll eat by 11… In America, we usually talk a little bit, then we have a long meal and talk over it. Here it’s kind of like you get kidnapped for the first two hours with some snacks but you’re not going to eat the meal. The conversation is all before. Then you sit down, eat, and leave. But I’ll miss that… those long conversations.

The third thing I’ll miss is how international the city is. Somebody once described to me before I got here that this is now the Vienna of the East. I think Delhiites know how international they are so they’re comfortable with every culture in the world. It means restaurants and stores don’t have just Indian ingredients but the world’s. As India takes its rightful place at the top of world nations, this, its capital I think, will be seen as one of the great cities once again.

How would you describe Delhi to someone who’s never been here?

Full on. Delhi is full-on all the time… If you land in the middle of the morning or late at night and you’re driving, you might end up seeing camels on the road and parties breaking out from nightclubs. And the next morning, you’ll see the rickshaw starting and the chaiwala getting ready for business. Don’t come here if you want to relax. If you want to experience humanity at its fullest, Delhi’s the city for you.