A Happy New Year to you all! It’s been a
crazily busy fortnight for all of us in the entertainment industry. Weddings, Dances, Parties, EDM festivals,
Christmas and the New Year’s Bash. Music and dancing filled the air at venues
across the state bringing with it joy, happiness and exhaustion in equal
measures for us all.
While the EDM festivals lit up the North of
Goa. The South played host to a maximum number of Christmas dances. New Year was
one big party all over Goa. People from all across India descended on our tiny
state bringing our infrastructure to it’s knees. While the traffic police did
the best they could to manage with the crowds, it became all too obvious that
we are not equipped to deal with the number of vehicles in the state. For days
the North and South of Goa stayed almost cutoff from each other by massive
traffic jams on both sides of the Zuari. Most of us ended up ditching our cars
for the relatively easier passage of two wheelers. While the jams across the
state made daytime travel tedious, the late night return journeys from most
venues were visual treats with homes all decorated with lights, stars
and lanterns.
Foreign tourists seem to have deserted the
state this holiday season; the vacuum of which was filled up by domestic
tourists which makes one wonder if our ministers might have been better off
visiting the rest of India to drum up tourism instead of all those foreign
junkets. The EDM festivals added to the charm and draw for these tourists. From
a revelers point of view the opportunity these festivals offer to watch world
renowned artists perform is unmatched anywhere else in India. The boost to
tourism they bring is a boon to the entire hospitality industry that was
suffering due to lack of foreign tourists this year.
The wedding season is in full swing as
well. For car rentals, florists, wedding venues, decorators, photographers, caterers, bands, choirs and
other associated businesses this is boom time. Every day it’s a different venue
and a different crowd, yet we all work together to make the whole wedding a
memorable experience for all. Playing weddings everyday with my band, ‘Purple
Rain’ I realised that no matter how many times we played the Wedding March, the
Birdie Dance, the Konkani Medley or even the Jolly good Fellow, the wedding as
an event, never loses its charm. Every wedding is unique and every performance
special. The traffic jams, work stress and exhaustion all fade away when we get
up on stage and play.
New Year’s Eve has always been a special
day with parties and shows across the land. This year (or should I say last
year) too, event organisers put up exciting events with fantastic performances
by Bands, DJ’s, dancers etc. and topped it off with dazzling firework displays.
Shouts of “Happy New Year” rang out as we lit up the skies and wished each
other the best in the coming year. It’s been a happy journey through this
festive season and the music has made it all the more worthwhile. I wish you all
the best that life has to offer and may the celebrations continue well into the
new year.
