Bengaluru celebrates New Year in style but flouts mask mandate

Overall, the celebrations in Bengaluru were incident-free

Despite Covid-19 lurking around, Bengaluru's party hubs came alive for New Year's Eve after two tumultuous years. But despite the mask mandate for outdoor partying, few revellers wore masks.

On December 31, thousands of people converged on MG Road, Brigade Road, Church Street and the surrounding areas to ring in the New Year. Although impressive, the crowd was a tad smaller than that seen before Covid-19. In contrast, Koramangala saw what a visitor described as an "unprecedented" number of New Year revellers.

Koramangala, the city's start-up hub, rivalled the CBD as thousands of merrymakers thronged 80 Feet Road and the streets of 5th Block to herald the arrival of the New Year.

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Police didn't appear to have expected so much crowd in Koramangala. While 3,000 cops manned the CBD's party circuit — there was a police officer every 20 metres — law enforcers were few and far between in Koramangala. The streets of Koramangala were also not as illuminated as those in the CBD.

Overall, the celebrations were incident-free. Several revellers told DH that they had a good time.

Revellers wearing illuminated headbands and blowing air horns milled about on the CBD streets.

People started flocking to the CBD as early as the afternoon. After 2 pm, traffic cops discouraged vehicle drivers from parking on the streets and went out of their way to regulate vehicular movement. By 9 pm, the streets were jam-packed.

Young women praised the security arrangements and said they felt safer this time.

Amrutha Shankar, a techie who was visiting the CBD on New Year's Eve for the third time, said: “I feel much safer this year. Security is very impressive. Police have done a good job."

Apoorva Anindita and Samiya Ravi, who are from outside Karnataka, were visiting the place for the first time and agreed with Amrutha on safety.

Police set up women's safety islands to attend to females in distress.

A citizen traffic volunteer who preferred to remain anonymous said, "The crowd is under control. People are behaving well and following our directions."

Rahul Raj, a resident of Bihar, said, "A friend told me about partying here. I am still figuring out what this craze is all about."