Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Visakhapatnam
Ringing in new hopes
|
There is no dearth of options as one finds the universal appeal of New Year celebrations astonishing, writes Soma Basu
|
DID THE `unheralded Santa Claus' - the postal staff -- add to your cup of New Year cheer and fill your mail box with greeting cards this week? Or were you busy online sending and receiving e-greetings? Or were your fingers stiff with SMS-ing friends? Did you don your party cap and put on your dancing shoes on 31st night and hit one of the star hotels to make merry? Or you were closeted with friends enjoying a special meal, good music and drink? Or you went to watch a film? Or shop-hopped, went to the trade exhibition, the few-odd book fairs in the city? Or gripped by the inescapable feeling of celebrations, you lapped up the menu at some restaurant?
Or you are those who abhor pocket-cramping cosmopolitan outings and are shy of get-togethers? And you chose the comfort of your home to spend a quiet evening? Or you spent time making an eye-catching rangoli at your doorstep? Or you tucked yourself in the warmth of your bed and switched channels bringing the world of entertainment nearer you? Or you zipped off to the by-pass to freeze the awesome beauty of the year's last sunset?
There is no dearth of options as one finds the universal appeal of New Year celebrations astonishing. In countries widely separated, in cultures far apart, people come together to welcome the English New Year. What differs is the intensity of celebrations and the level of participation.
Irrespective of how one actually celebrated the New Year eve, it is more of an acceptance of an act performed at that point of time when the fading year relegates itself into the annals of history and the new one advents with new-look promises. To live on is the quintessential element of existence.
Just like the roadside beggar, Shantha, said matter of fact: ``Yes, I know rich people celebrate New Year. I made only 10 rupees today but I sit here hoping to make more as the night grows. I hope the New Year will fetch me my meals.''
Murugan, who irons clothes for a living, says,``I am too poor to welcome New Year. But I take my children to the temple for Tamil New Year''.
Prakash, the courier boy, says, ``New Year celebrations are for the moneyed class. But to make my children happy, I have lit a fairy light in front of my house and treated them to muffins.''
``For me, the New Year eve was like any other day,'' said a lady rushing back home from work. And so was it for those innumerable patients lying inside hospital wards restrained by their ailment or injury. They were momentarily reminded of the New Year when the staff changed calendars and distributed sweets - as in the paediatric ward of Government Rajaji Hospital.
There was no sure recipe for breaking the sepulchre silence of the New Year night. Especially in a conservative temple town like Madurai, which is low on materialism, not yet ravaged by the extravaganza of Western celebrations, is not a swinging hotspot for the brigade of revelers, where feisty initiatives are met with some defiance.
Yet, over the years the "big village" has seen the emergence of new leisure zones for the affluent and the upward middle class. Coffee-pubs, ice cream parlours, the corporate-friendly star hotels or private clubs and restaurants are for the people on the look out for a place to unwind. And it is for these people -- who are also willing to pay a price for their happiness -- celebrations is all about visiting such places.
"Celebrations are a public experience that pampers all your senses. The hospitality industry over the years has succeeded in ensuring that creativity and experimentation triumphs over tradition and taboos,'' says the General Manager of Fortune Pandiyan Hotel, Rajasekhar, who had guaranteed the ``wow factor'' in the New Year programme at his hotel.
Evidently, majority of the populace chose not to digress from the daily work-eat-sleep routine on New Year eve. But there was a chunk of pleasure-seekers who went on a buying binge, ate out and partied on the occasion. Several buildings and offices, commercial complexes and hotels were brightly illuminated but the cosmetic uplift of market places, usually complete with buntings and festoons, streamers and lanterns, was missing. And so was the fizz and froth of celebrations in metros. Overall, the New Year celebrations here were described as "sober''.
Essentially the occasion was left to the traders, hoteliers and event managers paddling attractive schemes and vying with one another to bring the New Year zing into the somnolent town. The city hotels played the Pied Pipers for the evening, gaily decked and laying out exotic cuisine and cocktail, organizing rejuvenating games and contests, musicals and dances and doling out tempting gifts and hampers. But the price shocks the wallet. The decibel-happy people with oodles of money enjoyed the seasonal novelty.
Outside too, the food business was in full flavour tickling the taste buds of its customers and keeping the cash tills jingling, especially bakeries. Increased police patrolling kept inebriated trouble-makers under check. When the seconds separating the years disappeared, the sky lit with fireworks. It was at this moment that the all-pervasive cheerfulness knocked as those who had resisted any kind of splurge too were drawn out of their interiors.
Some resident associations took the lead in cutting cakes and holding fashion and magic shows and games. Some groups chose to meditate their way into the New Year. For few others charity began at home as they went visiting orphanages and donating clothes or cash. If the eve is marked with mixed celebrations, the New Year undoubtedly rings in hope for everybody.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Visakhapatnam
|
