At night, get a life!

Manpriya Singh

Las Vegas can claim the maximum and proudly so; Brazil wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t for Sao Paulo and we hear in Barcelona clubs don’t get going until 1 am! Who says being wild and rowdy is a bad thing? There are cities that have built a tourism industry on the reputation of providing entertainment after the sun sets and until the wee hours. A buzzing night life could translate on to a stronger economy, not to forget even find you a place of prominence on the world map. Taking stock of nightlife back home, the City Beautiful has often been accused of sleeping early. Well, not anymore!

Hot spots

The old-timers will happily recall the days of Jail House Rock, Blue Ice, Aerizzona…followed by the fact we’ve always acknowledged that Chandigarh is receptive to only one place at a time. Cloud Nine, Warehouse, Blue Blazer; they have all had their days of glory, rather nights of glory!

Cut to the present, there’s Paara Night Club, Ten Downing Street, The Horseshoe Bar, Satva Bar and Lounge, among a few others, doing well enough to co-exist. “The trend of club-hopping has seriously caught up with city youngsters now. Even otherwise the night life is so prominent that every weekend, there are international artistes coming in,” opines Rohit Atri, general manager, F Bar and Lounge. The list of artistes of international repute is as long as varied. From acclaimed artistes from across the border to German producer DJ Tom Craft to Progressive Brothers to DJ Aqeel, Suketu…like we said, the list runs long and varied. In between Chandigarh has also hosted the likes of DJ Nikhil Chinappa along with his project Submerge. Moving on, we’ve already celebrated our first in-house Jazz Music Festival.

Crowding in

No matter how far the crowds come, the city has always lived in the shadow of its richer cousin - The Capital. Often comparisons have been unfair, but nevertheless they are there. Only now, we’ve looked the other way round. Shares Ganeev Bains, city-based restaurateur, “Chandigarh has had its own brand of night life. It is a shifting night life that swings between in-house parties to clubs and lounges. Chandigarh is a much safer city to party in comparison to Delhi. We used to get a lot of people from Delhi at The Blue Blazer on a regular basis.”

As for the music, nobody’s complaining of lack of places where they play Indie music or promote EDM. Each day is reserved for a special genre, just as Wednesday it is for the ladies, while Saturday for everybody. “The fact that we’ve always had youngsters coming in from the neighbouring Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and smaller towns of Himachal to spend a good weekend here has always been known. But now at least city residents don’t have to step out every time there is a plan on party,” opines Karan Girhotra, a freelance DJ from Night Souls.

Sometimes a big feat lies in little things, 2 am for a deadline to call it a night doesn’t sound bad either. He adds, “Even the administration is looking in the right direction, with only stringent checks on drunken driving and not early deadlines.” It takes a step in the right direction to roll a chain of events that let a city reflect its true colours. Anything happening tonight? Yes please!

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