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Jan 17, 2000

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I know what you did on New Year's eve

There was something for everyone and everyone had something to do as the clock struck 12 and the year 2000 dawned.

It was about being exclusive, yet it was not. It was about being with friends, it was about taking a moment alone. For actor Anil Kapoor, the millennium-eve celebrations were about spending time with wife Sunita and buddies David and Lalli Dhawan, stuffing themselves. Not at home. Not at five-star hotels. Give them cheap Goan dhabas any day. "That's where the best food is," Kapoor chuckles. But after the round of low-brow frolicking, they followed the trail of the rest of the stars, and hit the Leela where the Khans -- Salman, Sohail and wife, Arbaaz and Malaika -- and Aishwarya Rai were partying.

It all happened that night, and yet it did not. Goa, as expected, was the millennium-eve hotspot, but as news leaked out that the state Tourism Department had clocked a much lower inflow of tourists than expected, the pundits -- pros and wannabes -- put it down to the Y2K panic, the downswing in the national mood because of the hijacking, and the combined draws of Titanic on Star Movies and Luciano Pavarotti on Star Plus. Hype or no hype, "the only thing different in Goa this year was that the prices were higher", says Delhi designer Suneet Varma (one of the many to make the Delhi-Goa trip) who deliberately checked into one of the smaller hotels to avoid the crush at the Fort Aguada where "half of Delhi" had landed. Varma may not have been in the mood for heavy socialising (he does it all the time anyway), and then there were those who wanted it, but with their own gang.

Like those who dropped in for New Year's at the newly restored Devigarh Fort, 40 minutes from Udaipur, Rajasthan, perhaps one of the most exclusive dos in the country. Invitations were sent out in the summer of '99. About 100 people landed up -- from Delhi, Mumbai, London and Paris -- for a bash at the fort that has been transformed into a hotel by Ranjan and Lekha Poddar. The decor, as one guest described it, was "Zen minimalism with gold and silver", lasers painting out "2000" on the old fort walls, and a two-day-long feast. Rubbing shoulders with each other were Frenchman Jean Luc Gauzer who is a lawyer for auction houses and a collector of Indian art, Rohit Bal (who went on to party in Goa post-Devigarh), Suresh Kalmadi, Rahul Bajaj and Mani Mann among others -- the ladies wearing what they called their "travelling jewels", a king's ransom for others. This was the party for the super-sophisticates. The bubbly flowed, not Dom Perignon (no need to show off here) but the desi Marquis de Pompadour.

There was something for everyone. And everyone had something to do. And the metros weren't the only ones celebrating. While a troupe of ITDC and PIB officials trooped off to Katchal island in the Andamans to catch the first rays of the millennium sun with a delegation of press photographers in tow; artist Naresh Kapuria with dancers Raja, Radha and Kaushalya Reddy, Uma Sharma and Sharon Lowen welcomed the rising sun with an installation art event at the 1,000-year-old monument to the sun god at Surajkund in Haryana; middle-aged couples from Nainital landed up at Delhi's Maurya Sheraton to dance the night away, and -- also in Delhi -- Dalmia House witnessed a bash thrown by a bunch of industrialists for a bunch of industrialists. In Bangalore, playwright Mahesh Dattani opted for a quiet at-home with his sister and 13-year-old niece watching -- take a guess -- Titanic, then went back to his house, listened to some music, and thought about the New Year. "You know how you tend to get philosophical at the beginning of things," he says. "I preferred to be at home than be stuck in loud crowds, or traffic."

Fellow-Bangalorean, painter Yusuf Arakkal did a bit of everything -- work, time with friends plus the heavy party scene. He was making an 8 ft by 8 ft painting of the crucifixion of Christ till late in the evening, then went over to a friend's house for a drink, then proceeded to a costume party thrown by Sumita and Bijeta Chatterji (Bijeta's the gm of Hindustan Aeronautical Limited Foundry & Forge). "Since I skipped conforming to the theme, I played judge," he says, adding, "It was an interesting evening."

Which it was for everyone -- those who dunked themselves in booze and those who did not, those who had a quiet time and those who did not. Shah Rukh Khan and wife Gauri were at a party at the Birla House in Mumbai, where other guests included Manish Malhotra, Sanjay Dutt and Rhea Pillai, Avanti and Yash Birla, Nina Pillai, Neelam and Karan Johar. Abhishek Bachchan and Karisma Kapoor were at a party at a Malabar Hill bungalow. It was a low key affair with 60-70 guests, and a pani-puri wala and dosa wala thrown in. Nothing spectacular, just a regular party.

Which brings us to the consensus: that though there was lots happening to usher in the year 2000, there was nothing to match the hype. Goa, where most of the most happening parties happened, was hardly more decked up or crowded than it is every New Year's eve. While the state Tourism Department had expected a doubling of the number of tourists over last year, nothing of the sort happened -- only 55,000 more people landed up over last year's total of 1.6 lakh. There was even some high drama with the cancellation of the much-talked-of party by Nusli Wadia's son Jeh Wadia following a PIL in the midst of allegations of encroachment and unauthorised felling of trees. "Sorry to sound like a cynic," says model Nina Manuel, "but I've been to Goa three years in a row for New Year's eve, and there was nothing different this year from the earlier years. I think there were less people this year." When she says it, believe it -- Ms Manuel was one of those livening up the scene down there. At Busabong, a restaurant recently opened by her friend Nikhil Chib, she doubled up as bartender for almost a week, with fellow model Ujjwala Raut chipping in. So what if it didn't match up to the hype. It was fun anyway.

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