If there was one place in the city that exuded the New Year revelry spirit to the hilt, it was Beach Road. Thousands of merrymakers descended on it from late evening onwards and turned the place into a grand carnival.
Amidst the revelry, vendors and smart entrepreneurs made some good business by offering entertainment and food choices. Photo booths were one of the main attractions at R.K. Beach on Saturday night. Decked up in multi-colour fairy lights, they drew a lot of revellers who were eager to get themselves clicked and share the pictures on social networking sites. And the vendors of the photo booths cashed in on the craze and made a killing by charging Rs. 500 per person.
“The photo booth was great fun for us as we wanted to get a picture of friends clicked on this night. And there could have been no better spectacular location than the beach,” said V. Shashank, a B.Tech graduate, who was quick to post the pictures on Facebook and Instagram.
Food stalls
Many makeshift food stalls sprung up on the footpaths of the Beach Road and remained open till late night as people thronged to relish a whole range of spicy fast food options. With the weather being perfect for some steamy spicy delicacy, the haleem corner made a record sale on Saturday night.
“This place tonight resembles the Park Street of Kolkata with so much energy and activities. It was my dream to celebrate New Year and this was a perfect vacation for the family,” said Anirban Das, a tourist from Kolkata. The night sky was a sight to behold with revellers releasing floating lanterns at the stroke of midnight. Some others took to bursting firecrackers despite a ban. On the beach, people encircled themselves in small groups and had their own celebrations with blaring music from bluetooth speakers. The euphoria and the festive spirit pervaded across Beach Road on Sunday as well, as families came down to welcome New Year with full gusto.
