#IYKYK
Delhi is unique, or maybe its just any other metropolis, where the upper echelons of the society mingle with their own and hence “someone” knows “someone”” at all times.
Well six degrees of separation aside I am referring to the entitlement that comes along with all the OG Dilliwalas. This is a very unique situation for us Bar owners, who have a hard time, saying No to anyone, as they are all “someone”! Delhi for your quick reference is the captial city of the most populous country in the world, with bureaucrats, and business owners, politicians ( both in power and opposition) and revellers, all hang in the same handful places. It is HQ. Period.
Now for all the pomp and show and obscene flaunting of power and money aside, I love my Delhi ( pls refer to the story Delhi O Delhi) but when we first opened Sidecar ( in 2018), we weren’t prepared for it, and I feel like even now, almost 8 years down, we are still bad at this. This massive ask to fawn over the famous, or influential is not us.
In fact one of the appeals in our bar, our ethos, our pillars is based on the song — I Love this bar- by Toby Keith , the lyrics of which are pretty self explanatory with —
“We got cowboys
We got truckers
Broken-hearted fools and suckers
And we got hustlers
We got fighters
Early-birds and all-nighters
And the veterans talk about their battle scars”
And many a regulars love us for exactly that.
While we have had the privilege of hosting A listed politicians to Billionaire start up founders and CEOS we have always treated all our patrons as just that. Patrons.
Though in full declaration on an occasion or two, I had a hilarious interaction where I called “someone” . Circa 2015 we were screening IPL at our Bar in Gurgaon, and the broadband signal was too weak. I ended up calling the CEO ( who was a regular and was at the time in Argentina!) to help me with the speed, and he did! Well I screened the match to some very happy patrons, who had filled the bar with much excitement to watch the finals. I later sent a thank you and an apology, to which the CEO responded saying, “next time I hope I get a barstool”.
