Partying a great stress buster for metro crowd

The nightlife trend was never there till about the mid-nineties, when the country saw few ‘nocturnal’ places open up with loud music and hard drinks. These places were referred to as ‘Pubs’ by some and Snooker Joints by others, as most places had a snooker table for entertaining the patrons with engaging time. Later came the era of BPO and the IT boom that brought along with it some more ramifications; of that of ‘Firang’ investment into the job market in the economy. The clubs and dance floors saw the first shining lights in the metros like Bangalore and Hyderabad, where the FDI was creeping into the IT Parks and Hi Tech cities with outsourced businesses. The young crowd which first saw a culture shock sort of exposure to the weird dark places with laser beams slowly started loving the concept called ‘hanging out with friends’ over a two drink minimum.

The ‘disco pattern’ slowly picked up as the urban metros started living the lifestyle of the West – tight deadlines, long hours of work and no social life. The nightclubs became a delightful respite after a hectic week of satiating a foreign paymaster with Desi talent. Now, the clubs are the soul and space of many workaholics who opt for fast paced action in their lives with fat pay checks that come along with it.

The City patrons take a delight in haunting these hep places with famous DJ’s (Disco Jockeys), posh interiors and expensive places. They are okay to part with those four to five grands of their monthly income to let the hair down and dance away to some lilting music. “I need my weekend with friends at this nightclub I so like” confesses Priya, who works for IT Company as a project manager. “I will go crazy if there is no outlet to the everyday schedule of 12 to 15 hours at work. I need a break and this is a fantastic way to do it” she adds. Most women now take to the comfort of dancing away the night with their peers and friends to shake the stress away. What more, it’s an excellent way to work out too. “I love dancing and this is a great excuse to do so” says Rohit, an investment banking professional in a leading firm “what other options do we have otherwise? I don’t have time to attend Bollywood dancing or other aerobic classes in the weekdays, and this is a great way to shake a leg” he states. The metro crowd loves to gyrate and jive to some tapping music from the DJ’s ringing in a feel of celebration in stressful times.

Interestingly, the nightclubs have fashioned the weekends with interesting themes like Bollywood Night, Salsa Night, Ladies Nights etc., with great business acumen to mint money.

However, not all is rosy at the party scene of the metros. Drugs, prostitution and gambling have made their way into some of the nightclubs that most patrons dread. This is also a concerning factor for the educated crowd coming from a decent background – “I want to party, but I’m worried about these other things I keep hearing about” expresses Neha, a student of fashion designing. “No matter how fashionable and modern I’m supposed to be, I usually go out with a trusted group of friends” she confirms.

In the recent troubled times following the Delhi Rape incident, the Hyderabad Police and Traffic have done some exceptional job with the cases of drunken driving in the city after nightclubs close. The cops are taking matters seriously, prohibiting the drunken crowd from driving on the roads, with some serious punishments and fines as a penalty. This keeps a great hold on the party crowd that makes sure of one person being able to drive the rest of the group home. The other section of group hires taxis to get home in case of one too many over the night. “We come and leave in a group, and one of us makes sure that the rest all reach home safe as he is mostly sober” confirms Om, a PR professional in the City.

With more check points added by the Cyberabad Police near the hep destinations of the so called pubs, things have become more vigilant and secure. The city has seen in the last few years that the City Police has beefed up the protection for the civilians. While this is a good sign, few regular night birds crib at the nastiness displayed by the cops while testing for alcohol at the checkpoints.

All in all, the metro crowd in the country sure indulges in a deserving weekend time in the period of sinking job markets and swelling levels of anxiety to retain the job in hand. After all, these are troubled times!