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Photo: M. Moorthy

Gearing up On a shopping spree

Party animals are gearing up for the grand evening, to toast to the feast at places where fun and frolic culminate while ushering in the new year.

Though quite visibly, the city lacks places for partying, the scant few available are all made up to welcome the fun-lovers. What you get to do at these year end hotspots? Voice a song or shake your leg to a chart-busting sound track. Sounds good, but the catch lies in the cost. All the fun comes with a price tag.

The hospitality industry has been at it for over a month.

Breeze Residency, for instance, kicked off its ticket sale for New Year party well before a month. To hear the tune of a band from Chennai and put on the dance shoes, you got to loosen your wallet strings by Rs. 800 to Rs. 1,500. Kebabs and turkey Biriyani will of course fill your plate, along with an elaborate gourmet spread.

“Last time, the participating count reached 300. This year we expect more,” says the Deputy General Manager of Breeze Residency P. D. Vincent. Christmas and New Year are the times when the City witnesses an influx of foreign visitors.

Grand and flamboyant ambience in top-tier hotels vie with one another to grab the attention of the visitors.

For Andrea Brunson, a French national, the sheer scale of culinary varieties included in ala carte and buffets of hotels in India is fascinating. “Hotels here are not for wild and hedonistic party people. Kids are well taken care of by the hoteliers and it’s kind of peaceful get together for us,” she compliments.

Dance shows with imported music bands have been planned for the evening at a few other eateries across the city. Fun games for kids and couples, with host of gift hampers, have become an integral part of the celebrations.

For some, however, the city is yet to blow in the metro flavour. “Perhaps, it’s to do with the crowd. There is no hardcore partying spot in the city. The songs are light and bands are called in just to spice up the ambience with mellow music,” says Archana Prabhu, a medical student.

Despite the strongly heard whinges among the younger lot, hoteliers don’t seem to turn their attention from the family packages. At Hotel Sangam, the usual celebrate-with-celebrity events have been swapped with an exotic spread of Western and Indian cuisine by the pool side. The idea is to allow families to usher in the New Year in serenity.

“Rock and rolls aren’t exactly the type of partying welcomed here. We zero in on families and provide them a tranquil ambience to spend the evening in the way they love to,” says Premchandran, General Manager of Hotel Sangam.

College hostels, too, are setting up the tone for revelry in their own way. “We are quite cut off from the partying crowd outside. But inside the campus, we are planning big celebrations. Loud music and dances in the hallways is something every college hostel will have,” says Roopa, a final year college student.

The out-of-the-world and frenzied partying isn’t what quite the Tiruchiites savour. That is what gives a sluggish start to the hotel celebrations.

“Tiruchi still hasn’t got into the let’s-go-for-party attitude. The people are much more laid back and pick up places where they are left best to themselves,” Mr. Vincent observes.

Nonetheless, hard-hitting music or unperturbed tranquillity, New Year celebrations are slowly getting different and better in the City.

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