A Tale of Three Cities
Worlds unto themselves
Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata — three cities that glitter like a tiara across India’s forehead; each equally eulogised, criticised, glorified and vilified. Each city singularly different, unabashedly divergent and a world unto itself.
One, celebrated as the country’s business and film capital; another, the seat of its administration and political power; and the third, a repository of its intellectual and cultural ethos.
But beyond their stereotyping and mythology, behind their facades and fences, what are they really like?
Surely, there’s no better way to get under the skin of a city than to dine as a guest in one of its celebrated homes. For it is only here, ensconced within the four walls of your host’s private residence, that you are afforded a peek into their city’s heart and can get a measure of its manners and modes, its customs and canons, what makes it tick and what gets its goat.
“The first question you get asked by people you’ve just been introduced to at a Delhi dinner is: Where do you live?” says a long-time resident of the Capital. “In Delhi, location is everything. A Delhiwala can gauge what work you do and how much you’re worth in two seconds flat — just by knowing where you live. On the other hand, in Kolkata, the first questions I’m asked are usually to find out which authors and filmmakers I admire and which political ideology I adhere to…”
And what about Mumbai, I prompt the long-time Capital resident, what are the first questions you get asked here?
“In Mumbai, no one really bothers about where you live or what books you read — all they want to know is what you do,” she guffaws.
But of course, it’s not only what’s on the walls and shelves that tell the tales of these three cities and their individual traits, but also what transpires over the course of the evening: What is spoken about and is not can convey so much about a city’s ethos.
As to be expected, here too there are striking differences. A media maven, who finds himself in one or the other of these three every four months or so, says he follows simple ground rules: “I never begin a conversation about politics in Delhi, if I don’t have lots of time. In Mumbai, I avoid talking about business or the stock exchange if I’m party-hopping; and in Kolkata, I never enter a discussion about football or Mamata Banerjee, if I want a peaceful evening ahead.”
Ah yes, what about the sensitivities in each city, I ask the media maven: What does an outsider have to remember never to say at dinner?
“That’s simple,” he replies, “The rule of thumb in Delhi is don’t criticise the ruling regime — unless you’re among really close friends. In Mumbai, it’s best not to criticise Sachin Tendulkar or Lata Mangeshkar; and in Kolkata, you’d be better off not saying a word against Sourav Ganguly and Satyajit Ray.”
And what do people like to show off about over dinner in these three cities, I ask the media maven.
“I guess in Delhi, it’s about owning a farmhouse, or a politician; in Kolkata, people take great pride in telling you about their priceless collections of shawls, or first editions of Tagore’s Gitanjali; and in Mumbai, it’s all about owning a boat and a getaway home in Alibag — though these days, among the younger lot, it’s also about their latest three-star Michelin experience,” he says.