Night Out

When we were teenagers growing up in Delhi in the ’90s,a night out meant a trip to a Bollywood film,or,on special occasions,a visit to the city’s legendary,and the only disco,Ghungroo. Bangalore already had a thriving pub culture,Mumbai had an enviable night scene,while Delhi remained a village. Anyone who was brave enough to start a bar/restaurant outside of a five-star would succumb to the inevitable brawl or kniving incident,or raids by cops. For decades,a city of over 10 million had nowhere to party except five-stars,where exorbitant prices ensured you couldn’t do it too often. On the flip side,it meant some measure of safety,since no one can get drunk on 500 bucks worth of booze (a huge amount of money to spend on an evening back then).

Happily though,now we can safely say,Delhi is the most happening city in India. There are over 150 bars and nightclubs just in the stretch between Hauz Khas and MG Road,with new ones opening every week. Mumbai is,in fact,alarmingly,becoming a village,beset as it is with a moralising police force determined to uphold archaic laws and raid bars for random reasons. Exasperated Mumbaikars can’t do much and have taken to armchair activism on Facebook and Twitter. But sarcastic tweets like “cops arresting the clouds for overcrowding the sky over Mumbai” aren’t going to change anything. Similarly,Bangalore pubs shut at 11:30 pm,completely ignoring the BPO culture where,for thousands of people,the work day begins about that time.

So Delhi’s had the last laugh,and Anidra is the current hotspot. Hotel Aman has had a slow start: it opened right when the slowdown began and the off-season rate of $550 ( Rs 30,000 a night) for a regular room raised eyebrows even among high spenders. Nobody got the understated elegance of a kota-like flooring combined with blazing marigold flowers (we associate kota with musty government offices),and the minimalist decor of The Aman makes even The Oberoi look positively garish. The Aman restaurant On The Waterfront (OTW) is serious competition to 360 and on any evening,you’ll find many industrialists entertaining there. Anidra,a floor below OTW,kicks off at midnight,but 11 pm onwards,you see a pleasant sight of girls in mini skirts driving in,in Range Rovers and Audis,and lo and behold,actually standing in line to enter the premises.

I took the precaution of calling and booking a table at Anidra. We arrived at the most unfashionable hour of 10:30 pm on a Friday night and were the first ones there. How it works is you buy a cash card at the entrance,at a minimum denomination of Rs 3,000 a head,inclusive of taxes,of which Rs 2,400 is fully redeemable on alcohol and food. A beer costs Rs 400,the Millionaire’s Margerita is reasonable at Rs 450. The Sushi is priced at Rs 350 a piece; your money is far better invested in alcohol. There’s no better way to be introduced to a nightclub than by a regular,and I had my old friend,Delhi veteran and businessman,Jaisal Singh,34,for company. We took a table close to the bar,and Singh warned,prophetically,“We’ll get trampled here in precisely one hour.” We moved closer to the dance floor,slowly filling up to a mix of house,hip hop and techno. When you order a bottle of champagne or whisky,the waiter presents it with great ceremony — in a basket with orchids peeping out,lit by a sparkly firework.

By 12:30 am,there was barely any standing room. You can’t hear yourself scream,and wearing closed shoes is advisable. The ambience is buzzy and surprisingly civilised with plenty of dancing and whistles. Outside,a line of a 100 people is waiting to get in. Anidra,officially,rocks. Let’s see for how long.

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