Nikhil & Sana, Rooftop Soirée

Nikhil and Sana had moved back to Dehradun after nine years in Singapore and wanted to reintroduce themselves to the city with a proper evening — seventy friends, old and new, on the rooftop of their Rajpur Road home. They asked for good cocktails, music that still allowed conversation, and a party that ended well rather than one that got shut down by the neighbours at 10:05 pm. They also admitted they no longer knew a single vendor in town.

The rooftop had one narrow staircase and no service lift, so every bar counter, lounge sofa and planter was chosen for what could be carried up in pieces. Mid-May brings pre-monsoon thunderstorms to Dehradun, often around sunset, so we rigged festoon lighting on weighted poles, kept a rain-rated canopy ready to deploy in fifteen minutes and tracked the weather through the afternoon. The bar permit was arranged a week in advance.

The storm stayed over the hills. A saxophonist played through sunset, a DJ took over at 8:30, and the bar poured a short menu built on botanicals from the hills — rhododendron, timur and kafal. At 9:45 the music dropped to a low set, and the last guests left at midnight, still talking.