Editor and anchor Vir Sanghvi, who has known De for 30 years, picked up from where Seth left. "Why do you hate us?" he asked De.

"The Delhi I recall was kinder and gentler," said De dressed in a steel grey and gold organza, looking two decades younger than her 60 years, as old as India itself.

"You need an armour to get out and go out in Delhi. Delhi has become a place that drips with the 'C' word and the 'G' word. Everyone is 'ji' and 'Corruption' is the definition of the culture in the city," she remarked.

It's not Delhi that I hate, there are aspects about the life here that I find disturbing. It is aggressive to women professionals and very feudalistic in mindset,

"Aren't you just a Bombay person being snobbish about Delhites?" asked Vir in playful zest.