The dark side of revelry on Brigade Road

Many a woman visitor to MG Road, Brigade Road, Church Street, Rest House Road, and Residency Road had to ensure the abuses and misdemeanors of many lumpens posing as revellers.

A foreigner, who was walking along with her friend on the narrow and overcrowded pavement of Brigade Road, just outside Fusion Lounge Bar, was jolted when a passerby repeatedly shoved and tried to ‘grab’ her.

Frightened, at first she tried to rescue herself but later hit back by pushing the man across. Her cries for help were drowned in the loud cheers reverberating on the stretch.

Such incidents were not sporadic as revellers shrugged them off and moved on. A number  of people whose visit to the area was not connected with New Year's Eve, struggled to get out of the mess. Motoring, as feared, turned out to be dreadful with vehicles crawling their way out of the thoroughfare.

Road-side vendors, as usual, made a killing by almost doubling the rates of their fares. A small packet of groundnuts which usually costs Rs five was being sold for not less than Rs ten.

Bars and pubs made super profits. All liquor products were sold at double the cover price. Partying at pubs burnt a deep hole in patrons' pockets. Entry fees stood at nothing less than Rs 400. While Oxygen Bar and Pub charged Rs 1,700 per couple, entry fee at the Cowboy Restaurant, Tequila and the Lounge Bar was Rs 500. The cheapest was Guzzlers Inn at Rs 400 per head.