Since I was in Delhi, I made up my mind to go dancing at a club. I looked up on my phone and found a club called “Soho Delhi”. I heard that it is the biggest and most splendid club in Delhi. It seemed that a DJ named Perhpay from London was going to be invited for an event on the weekend. The entrance fee is 3,000 yen, which is a decent price for backpackers. But seeing is believing, so let's go and get a feel for the club scene in Delhi.
It was so hot and humid during the day that if you took even one step outside, you would instantly be drenched in a waterfall of sweat. Even though it is an all-night burrow, there is a blower that seems to be an air-conditioner, so it is still comfortable. I've gotten used to being in a windowless room, and I could concentrate on my work. However, I couldn't stay in the basement all day, so I went outside to finish my laundry and dinner. I went to a laundry service and left my laundry there, and in the meantime, I ate curry at a local restaurant. Why should I sweat more by eating spicy food when it was hot?
I want to eat chilled Chinese noodles or cold Somen noodles.
Back at the laundry, my clothes were still spinning in circles. The man at the store had gone somewhere, but I decided to sit down and wait. Soon he came back and started chatting whatever. I wanted to have a smoke after dinner and wanted to light a cigarette, but I couldn't find my lighter. I had forgotten it.
“Do you have a light? “ I asked him,
”Yes, I have a fire. Wait a minute!” He said,
He came back with his hands full of stuff, but there was no lighter or matches to be found. He started arranging scraps of paper, gasoline, and an igniter, soaking the scraps of paper in gasoline, and then hitting it with the igniter to start a fire. I thought it was simply amazing. If you combine things you have around you, you don't even need a lighter or matches. India as a whole has a great capacity for ingenuity, and they can make do with what they have. After trying several times without success, I finally borrowed a lighter from another guest who came later, and the problem was solved instantly.
As I was walking to the inn with my fluffy laundry, I saw an old man who looked like he had reached nirvana, and I watched him for a while. Nirvana is a state of peace and tranquility in which all worldly desires are extinguished and one is free from suffering. This was the man. He was rooted to his chair, not moving except for the thumb on one hand that was manipulating the phone. I wondered what kind of shop this was anyway.
The sun was quickly setting, and I leisurely got ready and left the room before midnight. I walked to the brightly lit main street and caught a rickshaw randomly. As one would expect before midnight, there were few cars on the road, so we continued on our way. I arrived at a place that looked like a club, but the building looked more like a resort hotel - I wondered if this was really the right place.
After passing through the gate and going through the baggage check, I entered the building with a solemn atmosphere, and found a hotel lobby with a magnificent chandelier hanging from the ceiling, reminding me of a high-class hotel.
Just as I was thinking, “This is a hotel after all,” I spotted the word “Soho” written in red CRT. Is this a hotel with a club attached?
I crossed the lobby and turned the corner further inside the lounge, and there were seven or eight big guys standing in front of the entrance with a black tunnel-like Soho sign hanging from it. There were a dozen people waiting out front of the gate and I joined the crowd and waited with them. I didn't know what was going on, but I was instructed to wait in the lounge and waited. After a while, I was approached and got in line.
The security staff stripped me of everything from my bag to my wallet and confiscated my water bottle and cigarettes. I protested, but to no avail. It took about 30 minutes before I was finally allowed to enter, and I received my wristband. After passing through two heavy soundproof doors with both hands, I eventually entered. Inside the venue was similar in size to the Shibuya Grand Box, with a capacity of about 300 people. The floor was spacious, not too crowded, and above all, cool. There are three VIP rooms on the side of the floor, which can be used for an additional 5,000 yen. The speakers are four main stages of about 400 ✖️700, and there are no subwoofers, but if you stand on the floor, you can get a good sound from the front and ceiling.
The VIP room was crowded with people dressed as celebrities outside of the dance floor. However, the VIP space did not have the best sound quality, so they would occasionally go down to the floor to dance and come back up again and again. In the center of the floor remained people who genuinely liked techno and dancing, and it was really comfortable. The Indian proclivity to not care much about what others thought of them shaped the open atmosphere of the Soho floor.
"Where are you from?”
I was alone, and a woman asked me, When she found out that I am Japanese, she told me that she had lived in Hamamatsu before and happily gave me a hug. I hugged her and five or six of her friends who had come with them, and she said, “Welcome to Delhi"
They were so kind that I was able to step fully on the pedal and immerse myself in the music.
On the other hand, security was much stricter than necessary. I opened the door to the men's restroom and went inside, but only the urinal was available, and all the private rooms with toilet seats were locked and forbidden to use. Then the inside of the restroom was attended to by the attendant at his post,
“Go outside and use the restroom in the hotel.” He told me to go outside.
I went back to the entrance gate and told security I needed to use the restroom,
He said, “No!"
I didn't understand what he meant.
I had no right to be denied the irrational physiological act of defecation. I protested.
Then, he said, “Just once!"
He gave me a conditional permission. I protested further, but for some reason he would allow me to sit on the toilet seat only once, even though I had been playing all night. I carefully finished my business and went back to the floor, with the absurd rule that the next time I wanted to go to the restroom was when I was leaving home.
Once back inside, I found myself in a different world filled with music, alcohol, and kindness. India, where the worst and the best coexist side by side.
Clubs are good. It's been a while since I've been back, but I still like it. The floor is a time to escape the control of society and be ruled by music. Stop thinking and surrender to the sound. The floor is a space where there is no conflict and where people give to each other. Music connects people and expands the world.
After all, you should not stop doing what you love. You should continue to do what you love, even if it is in small ways, without stopping. It's good to shake my head once in a while, just like mixing compost regularly to encourage fermentation.
I was dancing happily and lightly the whole time, and it was well past 5:00 in the morning. The club is an everlasting sound box that makes you forget about time. The main guest had just finished. Time to go home. I hugged everyone and asked the staff outside to call me a cab. On the cab ride home, an old man was driving while using his phone. I thought, “Is he okay?" I peeked in and saw his phone screen was a selfie. I thought it was important that you like yourself. However, when I got out of the car, he asked me for a very high amount of money. We argued for a while, but we couldn't come to an agreement, and I ended up giving in. As a result, I had to give in, and the cab ride was very unpleasant. Too much narcissism is not good.
It is a universal belief that there are no bad people in the world who love music. No matter what time of year, no matter which country, good people always gather around good music. Even in the chaotic city of Delhi, which is like a human melting pot, a techno scene overflowing with love is truly growing, and I was very happy to be a part of it for one night only.
Many thanks to everyone in Delhi for a lovely night.
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