FIVE years ago, a typical night out in New Delhi was a family trip to the latest Bollywood blockbuster. Then came the so-called children of the liberation. The young heirs to India's new market economy grew up on Indian MTV, made more money than their parents and now wanted to party.
Flushed with disposable income, they carved out a kinetic new night life in south Delhi, an upscale collection of neighborhoods stretching from Humayun's tomb in the north to Qutab Minar in the south. "Delhi is no longer a snake charmer city," said Sandeep Gandotra, a nightclub promoter who is planning to publish Delhi's first party listings magazine.
There are now roughly 150 bars and nightclubs in the area, most of them appearing in the last several years. And more seem to arrive every week. Cover charges usually don't exceed 500 rupees (about $10.50 at 47 rupees to the dollar), and women usually get in free.
One of the most popular, at least for the moment, is Turquoise Cottage (81/3 Adchini, 91-11-26853896;
http://www.turquoisecottage.com/), a brick-walled basement bar that caters to a casual, rock-oriented crowd. On a recent weeknight, a packed house of mostly young men, with shirts tucked neatly into jeans, gathered amid marijuana smoke and beers. They bounced their heads as local bands mashed Sufi devotionals with Eminem, and the Beatles with Rage Against the Machine.
A hot new spot is Urban Pind (4 North Block Market, Greater Kailash I; 91-11-32514646), in a modern two-floor building with a dance floor, glass atrium and wall murals depicting the erotic sculptures of the famous temple in Khajuraho. Big-name D.J.'s often fill the club on weekends, while a pretty good local jazz band sometimes plays during the week. The upstairs restaurant offers outstanding Kashmiri dishes like rista, a mutton dish, and Pakistani fare like murg tikka lahori. Entrees run about 300 rupees. (On Thursdays patrons get unlimited drinks for 700 rupees.) While city codes require most bars to stop serving by midnight, Urban Pind simply shuts its doors and continues pouring into the wee hours.
For a bar more conducive to sitting and chatting, head to Ego Lounge, part of a Thai restaurant of the same name (53 Community Center, New Friends Colony; 91-11-26331181). In a city where calm is precious, Ego offers a low-lighted room decked with big, comfortable couches, lush plants and a D.J. who plays an eclectic mix of Hindi and Western pop. Cocktails are 200 rupees and up.
The south Delhi scene has even spread east and south into the neighboring suburbs of Noida and Gurgaon. The most popular club is Elevate (Centerstage Mall, Sector 18; 91-120-2513904; www.elevateindia
.com), in Noida, a four-story, techno-playing joint that forbids traditional Indian attire like saris and is known for its pickup scene. The taps flow until 4 a.m. Typical of the Elevate patrons is Raghav Bhalla, 25, a self-declared playboy, with shoulder-length hair. Young Indians are shedding their conventionality now that "the bourgeois has taken over," he said, as drove around the city in his late-model car, blasting the Doors' song "The End." "People are going absolutely mad."
