After pubs, party spills onto Mumbai's streets

MUMBAI: When Shahid Afridi’s wicket fell, they raised their pitchers of beer in unison and let out a triumphant roar. And when India won, fans—most in a happily inebriated state—embraced strangers like long-lost friends. This scene was repeated in bars, restaurants and pubs across the city. Bartenders had a busyWednesday night. There was very little elbow room at watering holes, but no onewas complaining. Sukesh Shetty, secretary of Ahar, an association of over 7,000bars and restaurants in the city, said: “Our bars and restaurants saw abig rush as expected. Vegetarian restaurants, however,suffered.”While a majority of people trooped into restaurantsfor the second innings of the game, a few fans decided to spend the whole day atpubs, cheering the Indian team to victory. Shailesh Agarwal who runs a chain ofrestaurants in the city said his company had a cover-charge of Rs 1,500 foreight-hours of play. “But we more than recovered our costs,” hesaid. As India inched closer to victory, orders for alcohol andfood increased, said harried waiters. At a lounge bar in a south Mumbaifive-star restaurant, a group of investment bankers and stockbrokers loosenedtheir ties, but by 10.15 pm almost everyone was biting their nails. Pradeep Shetty of the Hotel and Restaurant Association, Western India (HRAWI)—which has more than 1,200 member hotels, restaurants and bars in the Mumbai region—said: “I’ve never seen such frenzy before. Hundreds of people working in both government and corporate offices rushed to our hotels as our lounge bars had been booked in advance.” InColaba, which is dotted with many popular pubs, the party spilled onto thepavements, as soon as the match ended. Bemused tourists were seen joining in therevelry. On Wednesday night, everyone was Indian.