This is not a story about Delhi and its tryst with the monsoons. It is also not about that sinking feeling you get when you meet rather ugly politicians digging their noses. It is instead about where the denizens of this city lounge around. There are several lounge bars in Delhi. But you have to understand that the definition of a lounge bar in this city is slightly different from one either in Manhattan or even in Meerut. Lounge bars in Delhi are those that have a sofa-cum-bed which means the consumer can put up his shabby feet so that we can see the label of some rather shoddy Karol Bagh shoe store from which he may have happened to buy his wares. It also gives him a reason to get closer to the bhenji who he may have brought to the bar. But there are some obvious exceptions and being a lounge lizard, here is my personal take on Delhi's Lounge Laps: or bars as you may wish to call them!

Favourite # 1: I would believe Rick's at the Taj Mahal Hotel on Mansingh Road would be the finest lounge bar. Because you can be seated between Rahul Gandhi and Robert Vadra and still not experience any political turbulence which you so easily might if you were in Gurgaon or for that matter at the various Intercontinentals that have now mushroomed in the city. There is a certain ambience to Rick's which makes it special. You don't have bartenders who need to shower with the same club soda that they are about to serve you. When you ask for a single malt, they will not serve you Black Label which incidentally is Delhi's favourite drink next to lassi. And the food is delightful. The sofas are designed for comfort and not copulation as is the case in some other lounge bars. The food is mainly oriental but my personal favourites are the jalapeno peppers as is the chicken wok dish that is both elegant and fulfilling. The music is inspiring and not obtrusive and the best thing about Rick's is you can take your mother, your wife, your mistress or even your boyfriend there depending on the day of the week.

Favourite # 2: Kylin, which is tucked away in the bowels of the Priya Complex, is a superb lounge bar as well. Very quiet with elegant service, it makes for a fantastic place to unwind. The food is heavenly and if you haven't been to Kylin, there could only be two reasons: one that you are a five-star rat (and there are many in Delhi) and the other is you are not literate because Kylin has been written about in intelligent papers and not in the ones which review Mallika Sherawat's new book. Take a trudge to Kylin and you will cherish it. Like all good places, this one too has its share of regulars. Those who know what to order. The cocktails are superb as is the whole environment. I am a great believer that the two elements that make up a lounge bar are the lighting and the music. Mercifully, both these are well defined at Kylin. There are plated meals available, which means that when you have drunk copious amounts, you don't have to use your by now shrunken brain to figure out what you must order.

Favourite # 3: The Olive Bar (see how I don't mention the kitchen bit) is a personal delight factor for me as well. I have spent many evenings in the bar just relaxing with friends cut away from the vast multitudes that are digging into their company-paid plates as if there is no food tomorrow. The bar at Olive in Delhi is magnificent only because it can seat so few. You are not jostling for a drink and the white walls have a certain magic especially when you have had enough to drink! The finger food is smart and delectable. Order a trolley of food which includes hummus and the rest of the shebang and you will explore a wonderful blend of drink and food. The service is both friendly and unobtrusive: I hate bartenders who believe they have the god-given mandate to discuss nuclear physics with me when all I am interested in is another cube of ice in my drink!Then there are the usual disasters: the ones I talked about before. Bars which pretend to be lounge bars. The worst is when a silly restaurant serving butter chicken pretends to be a lounge bar because Romi ke daddy has just returned from Paris after buying a lounge music CD. These are places that you need to avoid like the plague. I have also had the enduring misfortune of being herded into a nightclub on the pretext that it is a lounge bar. There is nothing civilised about a nightclub unless you have Naomi Campbell by your side! Why would I spend an evening torturing my eyes at the sight of ugly gyrations which help no one.

Lounge bars are for the civilised world. Where life must be savoured and not expensed. It is about sinking into the comfort of well-crafted ambience where just about everything is right. Pity that in Delhi we can't do very much about the people but then that goes with the territory. The next time you are in the city, try some of the lounge bars I have mentioned. If you are taken elsewhere, it will be a perfect commentary on the quality of your hosts. Not in the least on the quality of where you finally land up!