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Yash Garg
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Yash Garg
@YashxGarg
DTU | Modern School | Global Governance Initiative | 21 y/o Chaser!
New Delhi, India Katılım Aralık 2019
554 Takip Edilen2.5K Takipçiler
Met some amazing people at the Tedx NIT Hamirpur ✨:
First Pic: Manu Arora - Founder, Aceternity UI
Second Pic: Jagdeep Singh - Civil Servant & Advocate for Technology in Governance
Third Pic: Yash Garg - Founder, College Setu
Fourth Pic: Yatin Pandit - Historian & Researcher
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There is a perfume that some people wear that either smells like roses or sandalwood. People in Cadaqués (fishing village in Spain) seem to wear this a lot.
The fragrance, even while I attempt to not get distracted, instantly carries me to the five star hotel receptions of New Delhi with their rosewater brass cauldrons dotting each side of the concierge, the larger-than-life atriums, the faint classical music in the background, the off-white robes of the spa staff, the Delhi of gymkhanas and freshly cut grass and buffet morning orange juices and aloo parathas, the Delhi of paunchy men holding meetings in the five-star coffee shop, that sound of traffic passing by in Connaught Circle only heard best from the cul-de-sac of the hotel, the Delhi of old money and new money in perpetual collision, the Delhi of brutalist government buildings basking in their own self-importance, the Delhi of the Ciaz with the red siren while it once used to be the Ambassador, the Delhi of knowing which rooftop restaurant in what five star serves what kind of cuisine that is dear to you in your idiosyncratic way, the Delhi of luxury saunas where half of the men strip naked completely and the other half wear the towel no matter what, the Delhi of bare-chested Burberry shirt toters at 10 PM on a Friday night entering the clubs that have succeeded the infamous Royal Mirage from Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, the Delhi of taken-for-granted German cars where the Audi A4 reeks of peasantry or even the C-Class when you look at them from the eyes of the weary valets of 5 star hotels but the Lamborghini Urus, though mispronounced truly symbolises a rare richness and commands the respect of everyone from gate guard to durban to valet.
In the hotel atriums, you have businessmen from elsewhere travelling with family, their social graces still adapting to the opulence of the Delhi five star and on the other end is the perpetual meeter of meetings who is so weary and so accustomed to hotel lobbies that he can tell the colour of the drapes everywhere from The Lodhi to The Ambassador. It is in this Delhi of hotels that you also find out-of-towners like me, younger men, unsure of their place, for they have the money, but not the age to be at one with institution-like quality the hotel has come to inhabit and even if they find their place in the way the staff comes to recognise them the third time around, they always feel slightly more comfortable in the ambience of a Perch or a Sidecar where the hospitality hierarchies of City View Room, Pool View Room, and Suite are nowhere to be found.
The Delhi of five star hotels is still the favourite place of bureaucrats, safari-suit toters --- whose proximity to the governments afford them a looseness with which the crassest of dhandha Hindi slips out from their tongue, while the rest of the guests struggle with impostor syndrome and try to look or sit in a dignified manner in all hotel areas barring their room.
This Delhi of five star hotels is also the place for the Burberry shirt wearer to meet the Mango dress wearer, albeit always in pre-packaged groups --- the former, always scions of real estate, government, or some other business where the sun hasn't fully set on the old world ways of undeclared cash, suitcases in the car trunk, and a fleet of foreign cars. In this Delhi, you also see high-class escorts of varying descent --- from Majnu ka Tila to Moscow, no neighbourhood is underrepresented in the older of the Delhi five stars, where the flesh trade is elevated to high-profile companionship with a simple nod from the management and the perpetual fear of the wrath the clientele of these women might rain down upon the hotel.
This sandwalwood, the smell of roses; these fragrances also bring me back to a younger time in my life, the trip from Faridabad to The Oberoi, New Delhi took an hour in those days. Now it takes 1.5. In those days, my father would lead our family of four through the motions of buffet lunches and a-la-carte menus when the 1,000 rupee note could buy the world. He would tell us about how to eat appetisers, how to save tummy space for the main course, and what kind of cuisines had the best desserts. It was never about being born into Delhi 5 star opulence or even inheriting it as a matter of fact. No, it was always a special occasion. You always felt you were an outsider completely oblivious that the kid who grew up in Lodhi Colony might have felt the same. Even then, you were always Faridabad looking at New Delhi, trying to get into New Delhi --- the five star represented one of the many ways.
Obviously, many years have passed since those days of buffet breakfasts and commutes where I would sleep in the backseat looking only at the trees change from Okhla to Lutyen's to know if we had arrived. Now, whenever I walk into these hotels, I am unimpressed and the grandness fails to strike where it should. Now, it is more about inviting others to these places than tasting their opulence on your own. No five star hotel in Delhi can make a good cocktail. None. No matter what the rankings say. The bar at Taj, Chanakyapuri is probably the worst.
But that isn't the point of writing all of this.
In Barcelona, I stayed in this new-age boutique five star called Kimpton Vividora. Bang in the middle of the Gothic Quarter, they do social hours for guests where wine flows freely. The rooms are small. The staff is beautiful and the management assumes it will make up for their incompetence. It is catered to a younger, new money crowd. It's like Soho House minus the membership.
When I lived there, I was nostalgic for the spectacular luxury of Delhi's five stars, my home ground where I was spoiled. I'm not sure if younger people like me who come into money will hold the Delhi five stars in the same regard as older people do.
The seismic plates of luxury and opulence are shifting.
It's Airbnbs now. And yet, some of us still prefer an absurd amount of taxes, the valets coughing for baksheesh, the late checkout requests, the tiny portions of butter chicken for 1900 rupees, and the dramatic display of Indianness all starting with the brass cauldrons at the concierge smelling like sandalwood and roses....
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JEE Advance results are out and being a former JEE aspirant, I know the rollercoaster of emotions and the immense effort, both mental & physical, that goes into it. Don't lose heart if you didn't make the cut. In a few years, you'll look back and see how it all falls into place🚀
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Advice from my father I still live by:
1. The tree that bears fruit hangs low. If you have a lot, share it with others.
2. To get over stage fright, assume everyone you’re addressing is an idiot.
3. Honour your commitments: pay people before time and arrive at meetings before time.
4. Never take a loan in your life.
5. Learn to talk to everyone and find out what pushes people’s buttons.
6. Become a super-specialist so that it’s impossible to replace you.
7. Learn the law of the land. It might just save your life.
Happy belated Father’s Day.
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Constant improvement (however small) is the greatest shut-the-F-up to everyone that wants to see you fail.
Do not be bothered by the doubters.
Bother them with your work ethic, instead.
Mumbai, India 🇮🇳 English
