Tom Alter, Lucky Ali enthral at Winterline Carnival
Tribune News Service
Mussoorie, December 26
The makeshift tented hall on the Municipal Council premises was enliven by Padamshree awardee, Tom Alter and renowned Bollywood singer Lucky Ali during the Winterline Carnival celebrations last evening.
The event began with Christmas carol singing by students from the Hindustani church, led by Rev Erik Templeton, who sang several songs in praise of the Lord Jesus Christ, thus setting off Christmas festivities.
Tom Alter dressed as Santa Claus also added to the Christmas festivities and captured the imagination of the audience with his monologue performance through his satirical style, raising the issue of commercialisation of festivals, especially Christmas. Tom Alter said Santa had also become a figure of earning profit in the age of consumerism. Tom, through the play, highlighted the fact that Christmas trees, gifts, expensive dinner, and so on have become a ritual now and have turned into a big market in itself. The children have become a focus of the advertisers who are provoked to buy various goods as a part of Christmas celebrations.
Tom Alter, through his play, said Santa Claus the mythical figure in Christianity used to be icon of generosity and giving, but has been turned into a marketing icon by the advertisers. He said Santa Claus
from ages had brought joy to the children irrespective of caste, creed or religion by distributing gifts on Christmas and that feeling should be respected instead of heading towards commercialisation.
Following that, noted Bollywood singer Lucky Ali created a magic with his soulful voice and rendered-hit numbers including “Kaho na pyar hai” “Na tum jaano na hum” and “Jaane kya”, leaving the audience spellbound with his melodious voice.
However, Tom Alter was unhappy at the treatment meted out to him by the organisers and while speaking to media, he later said there was no one to receive him and provide even a glass of water for two hours, which was really unfortunate. He alleged that the hall during his performance was nearly empty, which was really unfortunate and really hurt him. He said the programme was being held in his hometown, otherwise he would have left without performing. He also said if the organisers’ attitude towards him was like this, he could very well imagine what others might be going through. Tom said until basic facilities were not improved, Winterline Carnival cannot become the medium of promoting tourism in the state. He also extended support to the regional artistes in opposing the functioning of the organisers and said they should be given due respect during the festivities.
Residents were irked at the flip-flop on the decision of entry tickets during the carnival.
The administration’s decision to issue free passes after seeing near to empty hall during the performance of Tom Alter has led to widespread resentment among the tourists and residents alike. The tourists who have bought the tickets said the organisers, in order to fill the hall for Lucky Ali’s performance, distributed free passes whereas they were asked to buy tickets, which amounted to cheating. They demanded immediate refund of the money. The people who bought the tickets for all days also demanded refund for the days which have been declared free for all during the event.
When contacted, SDM Mussoorie Ramji S Sharma, one of the organisers, said there was no question of refunding the ticket money since they were watching the show irrespective of the event being declared free.
Mussoorie Congress president Satish Dhaundiyal also said some shortcomings were bound to occur in any event and the committee should try to rectify them from next year.
