Amarjot Kaur
The shiny disco ball first lit up Chandigarh’s nightlife in the late ’90s, with clubs like Cloud 9, Jailhouse Rock, Deja Vu, and Las Vegas. By the mid-2000s, the city was jiving in the new ‘millennium’ at swankier discotheques like Arizona, Score, Chimney Heights, and Athena. Its party scene reached the crescendo about eight years ago, as Sector 26 started bustling with microbreweries and nightclubs, and parties went on until 4 am. However, this fairy tale ended two years ago. First, a Cinderella-like, 12 am closing-time rule spoilt the party at all nightclubs and bars in the city, and then the Supreme Court-imposed liquor ban ended it.
Timing pangs
Soon, neighbouring Kharar, Zirakpur and Mohali started dancing until late in the night. While these establishments were, initially, open till the wee hours and were getting the crowd, these are now feeling the pinch of the authorities’ crackdown on post-midnight parties and the belief that Chandigarh is safer. There still are partygoers like 21-year-old Shikha Sharma. The Sector 46 resident mostly partied during the past two years in Kharar. The 25-minute drive back home on poorly lit roads then did not trouble her half as much as the midnight deadline does now. “I don’t need the government to time my outings. Earlier some clubs on the outskirts were open until late, but not anymore. We reach the venue by 10-11 pm, but they shut the place down by midnight,” she rues.
Things have also been rough for Ajit Pal Singh, owner of Zirakpur-based disc Junkyard, who earlier owned a club called The Mission Arebia in Sector 9. “After running it for seven years I shut it down in 2014. Clubbing business has slowed down because of the timing issue,” he says. Cheaper excise fee was his reason to move to Zirakpur. “In Chandigarh the annual excise fee is about Rs 7 lakh; it’s Rs 9 lakh in Panchkula and Rs 3 lakh in Punjab.”
Safety issues
Last week, the administration cancelled liquor licences of two Zirakpur-based clubs Hop Highway and Almas for non-compliance to the deadline. Hollywood Club’s Aman says the reason why people started coming to cafes like Hollywood in Mohali and Junkyard, Cyanide and I Don’t Care in Kharar was because of the liquor ban imposed on restaurants located near national highways. “If such a restriction is imposed on people, it will kill the town’s nightlife. What keeps Hollywood functioning is its open-air day cafe and day-party bookings,” he says.
For city-based vegan designer Shruti Rao Rathore, Chandigarh is “definitely” a safer option to party. “I don’t want to go out of the city to party. In town I find places that are cosy and fun. I don’t think it would be a problem if I like the place and I’m with my people, but Chandigarh is definitely very safe,” she opines.
Tanvi Sukhija (29) says she has often come across groups of young men drinking and driving on the national highway, and the Chandigarh-to-Panchkula road through Hallomajra. “On peak days, there’s extra patrolling, which makes these places safer, but there are no policemen at nakas on Zirakpur roads many times,” she says. “Chandigarh, on the other hand, is safer, with tighter patrolling.”
About their security measures, Ajit says, “Mostly, we have some six bouncers, but on party nights (Wednesdays and Saturdays), we get more security.” The owner of Walking Street, 25-year-old Akshay, adds, “In fact, clubs offer to people a proper environment to drink and there are bouncers and security too. If the clubs are shut, it won’t stop people from drinking. They’ll go out on the roads and drink. Car-o-bar is already a problem.”
Another party-goer Dinesh Malhotra, who has been club-hopping in the city since 2014, adds, “Why is this moral policing not happening in Delhi or Mumbai? Does the administration want us to go to other cities and party now?” questions Dinesh.