Civilisations have since time immemorial clamoured to live in the heart of town. Manhattan in New York; Hyde Park in London; Beverly Hills in California and our very own Lutyens zone in Delhi have symbolised the arrival of someone in the circle of acclaim. Young, upwardly mobile professionals have preferred to live in studio apartments in high rise buildings in Cuffe Parade rather than go to Jersey City. Weddings in the city have stood out for being haute and happening. Celebrations in resplendent banquet halls are the ‘it’ thing to do.
Till came the Covid and gripped the world. Today all familiar terrains have turned turtle overnight. Large weddings, cramped up-town addresses, enclosed restaurants all seem dodgy, too clamoured and unsafe. Suddenly even that express lift in the skyscraper seems so unsafe. Shares Jayashree Raghuram, India head, Leeds Metropolitan University, “We live in a high rise in Delhi and as a rule, only travel with family in the lift. One day a neighbour got into the lift with us. We were on our guards as he went on chatting away. To our horror two days later he called to say that he had tested positive for Covid! We went into a tizzy and ran to get ourselves tested. Thank God we were safe but that sure was a close call.” Even the ‘so convenient’ Uber is high on the risk quotient. Shares Sumiran, an influencer, “For people like us who don’t like driving, going from point A to point B has also become life-threatening.”
Little wonder then that anyone, who can, is running away from the city and resorting to the ‘second home’ which now is their first. That house in the hills, the villa by the sea or the farmhouse full of gardens which was used only for weekends is a home sweet home. In this culture of ‘work from home’, the world gets loaded with digital nomads, the country road takes many to home. People are taking up cottages in the hills, ensuring the wifi works and clicking away online with a full view of a mountain. I am happily locked in our holiday home in the Uttarakhand hills and feel so heartened to see a leading entrepreneur like Rajan Kapoor, the founding director of Kapoor Lampshades, a chain of light atelier, living and working from his home on the hillock of Shyam Khet. Or discover poet-cum-leading lawyer Saif Mehmood move from Jeolikote and Mukteshwar to hold court from there. The talented and young singer song-writer Kamakshi Khanna launched her first single in Hindi for Saavn ‘Qareeb’ living in a tiny village of Farsoli in Uttarakhand. Global couturier Rahul Mishra even took bridal appointments from his family home in the hills. Stylist Gautam Kalra goes from one shoot to another while living in Goa!
Even homes that are not in the heart of town have become more sought-after. Shares Raseel Gujral, Delhi’s most preferred architect and designer of farmhouses, “Everyone who has a farm, a getaway is running away and we are overbooked with orders to renovate, redo and refurbish spaces.” Even a leading gallery owner informs, “The art scene is not experiencing any downturn. Instead, the rich entrepreneur is spending all his time in his various homes and suddenly noticing all the empty walls he can fill with masters.”
Weddings too are moving away from the madding crowd. Shares Parthip Thyagarajan, founder, Wedding Sutra, “From hosting the wedding in their home gardens to going to the destination hotels in smaller towns to deserted farms, weddings are moving into totally new terrains.” Couturier Madhu Jain, who attended her nephew’s wedding in Amar Vilas, Agra, insists, “We were seeing the staff constantly sanitising everything. We felt so safe seeing their safety protocols, and it felt nice to be out in the garden.” Nandini Singh, a royal from Jhabua, adds, “We all went to Jaipur to attend a wedding of a cousin in their ancestral haveli and all of us got tested, wore shields and enjoyed the wedding thoroughly.”
Holidays too are turning into family affairs where you book a secluded Airbnb, go with loved ones, carry your sheets, towels and toiletries and ensure to keep a safe distance from everyone at all times. This is the mantra of ‘staying alive’ these days.