That evening, Aryan sat on his balcony overlooking the chaotic, beautiful, smoggy sprawl of Delhi. He opened his notebook. On the first page, he wrote a new entry for his index:

“Bhai, I’m throwing a party,” said Rohan, a crypto-bro who had just bought a farmhouse in Chattarpur. “What’s the index rating on a live Sufi night versus a stand-up comedian?” Aryan closed his eyes, accessing the index. “Sufi night is vintage luxury. Rating: 9.4. But only if you hire the guy who sang ‘Kun Faya Kun’ and not the one who remixes it with EDM. Stand-up is passé. Rating: 4.2. Too middle-class.” Rohan hung up, enlightened.

In the heart of South Delhi, where the diesel fumes of BMWs mingled with the scent of kebabs, lived a man named Aryan Khanna. To the world, Aryan was a successful portfolio manager. But to his close circle, he was something far more powerful: the unofficial .