Ringing in '10 with wild celebrations

Or when you get drenched in the evening drizzle just ahead of the time when you would like to get into the New Year’s groove. Leaving behind these minor hiccups and other anxieties of the year past, it was all one big party as Bangalore rang in the New Year.

The City’s happening places — Brigade Road, Church Street, M G Road -- rocked and danced from evening till late night as revellers hopped pubs, restaurants and malls.

Raucous youngsters and merry couples joined scores of others in one unified call to usher in 2010.

In pockets of serenity some families saw the hours tick away with a quiet dinner and television programmes that beamed in the party elsewhere in the country and beyond.

Long before the revellers took to the streets and the pubs, the City police used public address systems to blare words of caution to the over-zealous, requesting people to keep the streets free of automobiles, to behave and have a great year ahead. The roads leading to the City’s party centre were blocked and traffic diverted.

As loud young men and women poured in from all corners, creating human waves on the well-lit Brigade Road, some made a beeline for the watering holes, others stood in small groups swearing they would give up smoking, drinking or turn a vegetarian.
But as some revellers started misbehaving, police resorted to mild caning.

Some pubs, like Pecos, closed early with bartenders saying they were “only trying to ensure that everyone was responsible”.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, a veteran Pecos bartender said: “On occasions like this people have a tendency to go overboard. This is our way of taking care. Besides it also helps warding off unwarranted trouble.” Mojo’s, Stones and Pecos R&B also followed tradition to shut down early, Elengovan, a Pecos partner, said.

At Pecos, drinks carried the regular prices, but others in the vicinity made a killing, charging patrons more than double the regular. So a 650 ml beer bottle at Brigade Fuel cost Rs 130.

Le Rock charged Rs 50 more on each pitcher of beer, besides a hike in the cover charge. The general increase in the price of alcohol, however, did not deter patrons from visiting the night clubs which were packed to capacity with no let up in flow of patrons through the night.

At the Taj group of hotels, the Taj Vivanta, which had invited DJ Ray from the Ministry of Sound was booked well in advance.