Opinion: A love letter, to a girl and to a city

I lived in Bastar, Chhattisgarh for six months between August 2014 and February 2015. While I was there, I met a girl whom I soon grew fond of. She left before me, returning home to Bengaluru. Sometime later she travelled to Delhi to visit her grandparents and I wrote her a letter, wanting to introduce her to my city. It was only the next morning, by when the letter had been finished and sent, that I realised I had written not one but two love letters. One of course to her and the other to Delhi. I reproduce the letter here.

Ms X,

If you have managed to get into my town, I hope you are not staring into your computer but getting “out there”. Should you be having trouble comprehending how to get out there in what might be a strange and unfamiliar city, may I please offer a few suggestions? Needless to say, they will be better than anything that you might find in a travel guidebook.

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1. Have dinner at Karim’s in Old Delhi. Karim's is right next to the Jama Masjid, which gives it atmosphere. Plus the food at this Karim’s – it's the original – is better than at any of the branches that came after it. I don’t really know why but I have been meaning to find out. Please note: Their tomato shorba is to die for, especially on a cold winter evening.

2. Visit the Nehru Memorial, Museum and Library. Peacocks roam the lawns and you get to see photographs of a young Jawaharlal with his severe-looking father. I am an admirer of Nehru's and I wish people would not be so quick to censure him but I guess that in this country you can be authoritarian (like his daughter Indira) and people will still love you so long as you win a war (she won ’71). Nehru, of course, lost ’62, which is about the only thing people remember about him.

Have lunch here. Lunch is simple, vegetarian, and you sometimes have to queue for up to 30 minutes to get it but this is one of the few places in Delhi where time has stood still. And just for a minute, you get the feeling that you’re still in socialist India when our democracy actually stood for something.

3. Have lunch at Andhra Bhawan. They serve a staple vegetarian thali and you can order meat (fish, chicken, or goat) with it. Please note: Their (vegetarian) refills are endless, so you cannot expect to do much work after having eaten here.

4. Have tea at the cafe at Triveni Kala Sangam. Their carrot cake and brownies with cream are nice. So are their gulab jamuns. Their omelettes are wonderful.

Please note: They shut early, by about six.

They pushed up their prices recently; till some time ago you couldn't run up a cheque for more than Rs 250 but at least they haven’t tried to modernise in other ways. The curio shop within the compound sells interesting knick-knacks. And since they’re an art and sculpture gallery, should you look around, you also get to feel cultured.

5. Have a drink and dinner at The Living Room (TLR) or Yeti, the Himalayan kitchen, at Hauz Khas village.

Hauz Khas village saved Delhi’s soul. If it hadn’t been for it, we would have been reduced to a city of McDonald’s and TGI Fridays.

If that had happened, I would never leave Jagdalpur.

Unfortunately, HKV too has been corrupted – yes it has, it took me a while to realise it but it has – by rising rents and the commercialisation that comes with it. (We need rent control laws. The character is as important as commerce.)

The place to actually have a meal here was Gunpowder, the coastal kitchen, but the proprietor Mr Warrier (a former, very unhappy-looking journalist) unfortunately decided to move to Goa. We hope and pray that he will return, but I do not think he will.)

6. Go to Chapter 25 in Shahpur Jat for an evening drink. The bar is so called because it was opened by three 25-year-olds. Women like it because the bartender is very good-looking, plus the bar is nice and they have some interesting EDM nights. I like the bartender because he pours large drinks. Or you could go to the nearby Potbelly, the Bihari kitchen, but they’re better for lunch.

7. On a Wednesday orSaturdayevening, go for dinner to Le Bistro du Parc in Defence Colony. This is not in Defence Colony market but right under the Moolchand flyover, just opposite Flavor’s, the Italian kitchen.

Le Bistro is run by the very pretty Naina (she’s half French, half Punjabi, and now that I think of it, has a nose that’s a bit like yours. It is a very nice nose).

Le Bistro is obviously French and has a very good wine list. The French nationals who come here are all as slim as you, the Indians are all as fat as me, which says something about our cuisines.

Or of course, you could just try good old Flavor’s opposite. It’s run by an Italian who’s been around forever. His tiramisu and coffee are delectable and we like him because he was really the first man to teach us that Italian food did not mean Amul cheese dribbled over everything.

Should you decide that the food at Le Bistro does not contain enough oil and masala for your Indian palate, you could always try the mutton keema kathi roll (I think I might faint) at the Nizam’s right behind Flavor’s.

Please note: I hear that Le Bistro has the writer Rana Dasgupta – he wears his pants up to his chest – play the piano on Wednesday evenings.

8. My little favourites. Drive to India Gate late in the evening. Park on the central radial, the road leading up to North and South Blocks. From vendors here, you can buy coffee, kulfi and chuski. Nearby there is cona coffee served in beakers at United Coffee Home in Connaught Place (I really haven't heard anybody call it Rajiv Chowk as yet). Their tajines are exotic enough too but I don’t recommend the food here. CP is a little decrepit nowadays, and UCH’s hygiene seems a bit off.

9. In the winter, do aSundaypicnic lunch at Lodhi Gardens. Pack lunch and a bottle of wine. (You’re not allowed to carry alcohol in so the bottle of wine will have to be hidden in a knapsack.) Get there once the sun is out properly. Don’t worry about when to leave, you won’t want to.

10. Finally, go watch a play at the National School of Drama, or Kamani auditorium, or the Little Theatre Group; they’re all next to each other near CP, close to Triveni. The NSD festival is held sometime in January, so you’ll miss that but if you’re lucky there might be an opera playing in town. The coffee at NSD during the interval is especially good. Plus it gives you the time to ponder why sometimes even going to a mediocre play can be enjoyable.

And remember of course, as we say in Delhi, to “enjoy!” (I still haven’t figured out exactly what that means.)

(Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).