I recently completed 10 years in Delhi, India’s capital city. Well, strictly speaking, I have lived the last decade in Noida, a satellite city of Delhi, part of the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), and tightly integrated with Delhi, and so this will do. Neither me, nor my wife, have roots or relations in Delhi or the wider region. So what am I doing here in Delhi?

Well, we moved here in 2015 (after 17 years in Bombay!) primarily for my work. This was to set up Bennett University (as part of The Times of India Group) which had received a license from the Uttar Pradesh government. The most optimal location for the university (keeping in mind variables such as cost of real estate, and proximity to Delhi) was Greater Noida, and thus distance from the university site as well as ready access to good schools for our daughters, meant Noida won over Delhi. So we found a house in one of the gated communities / apartment complexes along the expressway from Noida to Greater Noida and set up home. Coming from dense buzzy Bandra where we had lived much of our Mumbai life to the sprawl of Noida Expressway was a tad disorienting, not to mention the differences in culture, people etc. But we adjusted.

Subsequently after the university launched, following three years in Delhi, I shifted to Blume, but I continued to be based here in Noida / Delhi. Blume wanted to bulk up its presence here; at that time, we only had Arpit Agarwal here, and he was very happy to see the Delhi presence double. Subsequently we added more folks to the team, though gradually they have all left Delhi for Bangalore (including Arpit). I now find myself the sole investing member of the Blume team in Delhi:(

Delhi is a ladder

On this topic of relocations, I remember my parents shifting to Delhi in the mid-90s, my dad receiving his mandatory North India posting (he was working in a South Indian bank). They had lived in the South all their life and the shift was initially traumatic for them, though they eventually learnt to adjust (my mum even taking to the Salwar Kameez) both learning toota-foota or broken Hindi, and even enjoyed their stint. But the first year was tough, both struggling with the language, the weather, the expenses etc. In comparison my shift was a breeze. I was shifting to a large well-managed and well-staffed gated community. Then there were all the usual apps – Uber, Urban Company, Google Maps – which made adjusting to the city, and accessing it a breeze. And being economically advantaged (vs my parents) made it easier to pay up, and access better restaurants or services, for if you are willing to pay up, then Delhi is kind to you.

A digression. I remember coming back from B-school to Delhi in the late ‘90s, and surviving on a small allowance from my parents and having to use the crowded bus service to travel around. [If I found it tough, then think of what the women had to endure.] The year after I got my first job, and my in hand income shot up, and life became easier, for I could now use autos (this was pre Uber, pre metro days) and afford slightly better restaurants. At the time I was living in Mumbai which is a far more affordable city than Delhi (outside of rents) and easier to get around thanks to trains. At that income level, Mumbai beat Delhi hands down on every front. But gradually with each passing year, my incomes rose, and when I was visiting Delhi, I was able to use taxis and cars to get around and even better restaurants, and buy at better shops, and slowly Delhi opened up to me.

The higher your income level and the better the places you spend time at in Delhi, the more superior the Delhi experience / package is in contrast with other cities – you meet better-looking people (sorry, Mumbai!), you have better and more interesting conversations (which is largely centred around Finance in Bombay and Tech in Bangalore while Delhi is more eclectic – literature, politics, policy, law, and also business / dhandha), and you have access to better experiences while shopping or being served. Of course I am stereotyping it. And this is my perception.

‘Bandra se Bhangel’

I remember the time I felt I could move to Delhi. This was 2013 or ‘14. I was working in The Times of India Group and our Delhi guesthouse was in Greater Kailash 1 (GK1) near the M-block market, and one day while walking around the place, seeing the bustling market, the people, the density, etc., I felt it wasn’t too far off the mark to Mumbai. There was now a large modern metro network, and the city seemed interesting as a place to work. I did worry about the perception that the city had of being unsafe for women, given that I would be moving with my wife and young daughters.

It is true that the confluence of office, residences, and retail, along with the high density of population, makes Mumbai far safer than any other city in India (Ahmedabad is another). Delhi in contrast suffers from zoning (office and residential areas are distinct), and low density, which means it is not walk-friendly (and also means it is less safe for women). Over time with restrictions on zoning easing somewhat (or being violated!) and rising density, it meant that there were parts of Delhi which are walkable to an extent. Vast swathes of South, West, and Central Delhi were seen as fairly safe for women, though perception still lingered.

Another digression. This time a story from my early settling in days. I was shifting from Bandra, a tony locality in Mumbai, to Noida. The gated community I was shifting to was part of a developing sector, and the nearest Canara Bank was in a small town adjoining the new sector. When I told the clerk I wanted to shift, she looked at my passbook (this was 2015, remember!) and said seriously “Aap ko account Bandra se Bhangel karna hai?” Yes, Bhangel was the name of the town! I promised myself that if I ever write an autobiography, then ‘Bandra se Bhangel’ would be the name of the chapter covering my Delhi shift and transition!

The 2015 to 2018 years were likely the best years for us in Delhi. I was in Times where my schedule was freer, and the kids were also young. We explored Delhi thoroughly during this phase. In 2018, I joined Blume and life steadily got busier. The elder one got into high school, and that meant with tuitions and exam stress, gradually her schedule also made it difficult to take out time for impromptu trips. Then came COVID, and our Delhi explorations came to a hard stop. Since then I have had a strange kind of existence in Delhi, tantalisingly close to all the interesting events and places, but lack of time, and the difficulty of making all of our schedules work, and then the occasional seasons of COVID shutdowns and pollution making local travel and exploration tough.

A tale of two cities

PostCOVID, our Delhi office presence also gradually whittled down as colleagues moved on. We recruited three young women to be based in Delhi (one of whom was originally from Delhi), and all three shifted to our Bangalore office, the first chance they got. Specifically in venture / startupland, Bangalore is where the action is and I am not surprised at all. It is also the case that both in perception and very likely in reality, Bangalore is safer for women than Delhi. I have the privilege of being male and being able to sleep in an uber going back home at 10pm in Delhi. No woman can. She will be on a call or have the phone ready to make a call to someone – her mother, her sister, her boyfriend etc. I don’t know if the same holds true in Bangalore – less so is what I have heard.

Over the past few years, as Bangalore’s dominance increased in the startup ecosystem (more below), my travel to Bangalore steadily increased, and I find myself there at least 10 days a month (see below for why). Increasingly, due to travel, a crazy schedule, mostly virtual calls, and relocation of our office to Noida (previously in Delhi), I find myself travelling less and less within the city, and thus interacting less with Delhi / city. It is a pity, for there is so much the city has to offer, in terms of talks, shows, events, but it is hard for me to partake of the feast given my context. I feel sad in a way, but well, that is life!

Over the last six and a half years in venture investing in Delhi, I have seen two clear trends.

  1. The gap with Bangalore for non-consumer / non-marketplace has widened. This is even more true when it comes to top-tier teams. Increasingly when operators from a Delhi / NCR based co want to start up, more of them shift to Bangalore and start up. This is especially true if you are younger and / or don’t have kids or dependent parents. For consumer brands (D2C brands) and marketplaces, I haven’t seen a significant shift, and Delhi’s share has held and is strong.
  2. There has been a significant exodus of Delhi VCs to Bangalore. This has accelerated in the last couple of years. This is true of Mumbai too. In Delhi / NCR’s case it is led by the fact that the top-tier founder gap with Bangalore has widened, and the fact that pollution has been a challenge over the past few years. The extreme weather in Delhi NCR does not help, and the comparative good weather in Bangalore is a draw. Many VCs with young kids, and without any roots in Delhi have made the shift to Bangalore.

Can you love something deeply, and yet not miss it?

So why am I holding on? Well, we will shift too, to Bangalore, once we become empty-nesters. We nearly made the shift in 2020 during COVID, but we finally decided not to because of the disruption that shifting schools would cause to the kids’ lives and friendships. Now that the younger daughter is entering Class XII, we will probably look to shift next year once she leaves for her university. It will be 11 years in Delhi then. While I love Delhi, and will continue to, I don’t think I will miss Delhi. It is perhaps time to move on, though the shift is a year away at least.

Living and working in Delhi, and interacting with Delhi founders, and Delhi in general does steel you up a bit. You are a lot pushier; and mentally you have to be a bit more on guard here. There are lots of microaggressions / micronegotiations – sometimes with your cab driver, sometimes with the parking guy, or the security guy, etc. This post by Rohit Krishnan terming it as bilateral negotiations captures it well. He describes life in India but what he says is especially true of Delhi. But over time handling these microaggressions becomes natural. You never show weakness or softness ideally:) My colleague Arpit once mentioned that after two-three years in Bangalore, on his travels to Delhi he was much more discomfited by these microaggressions / micronegotiations than before. I do hope I never lose this comfort with discomfort:) Take me out of Delhi, but don’t take the Delhi-ite out of me. Don’t make me too soft!