Did you know that we have the longest nights?

Just when Mumbai, the mecca of glitz and glamour, decides to wind up its nocturnal activities, Delhi is on the last peg of drink and Bangalore has already downed the shutters and gone off to sleep, Kolkata’s party animals hit their favourite night clubs. Dressed in their best they step out on the roads and zoom over to a hot spot. Lots of hip-shaking and boozing later, they step out of their night haunt at about the same time that the sun kisses the horizon, pick up the morning paper and drive back home.
Indeed among all the metros in India, Kolkata parties the longest with the bar at the night clubs remaining open till 2 am. Delhi allows the second longest partying period at 1am. “The crowd begins to swell only about midnight or 1 am,� said Rushali Shetty, manager of Tantra, one of the happening discotheques of the city. While people step in here by about 1 am, the music goes on for at least two hours after the bar shuts off. “People still chill and dance away,� Rushali added. In fact even well passed 11pm the discos in the city wear a rather deserted look. “Dublin only begins to throb only by about 12.30 am and rocks till about 3.30 am. Before that we have a good enough crowd but not full capacity,� said Nitin Behl, assistant F&B manager of ITC Sonar Bangla that houses this disco. In fact, even for Winning Streak, the only sports bar in the city, the flow of partying people begins only around 11.30 pm. “The crowd begins to peak around 2 am, which is also the time when we have to shut off the bar on weekends,� pointed out Sougat Sarkar, manager of the sports bar.
With a penchant for partying late, city club hoppers drop by earlier only if there is a special event happening at any of the places. But even then the timing has to be decently late for everyone to turn up. “We don’t organise events before 12.30 am since no one comes in before that,� said Rushali. Madhurima Sinha, PR manager of Taj Bengal which houses the night club Incognito agreed, “If an event is slotted for 11pm, only 20 per cent of the regulars will come on time, the rest drop in only well after midnight. But if it’s an invitee-only night, like the launch of a designer line or something, people drop by earlier,� said Nitin.
However it’s not that Kolkata party-goers deliberately begin their night late in comparison to other metros. “It’s the club culture in this city that ensures that the party-goer first goes to the club and then drops by to the night clubs late,� pointed out Nitin.
Indeed, any typical party animal begins the evening by 10 pm with a stint at the club of his choice where the actual drinking session happens. It’s only much later that he saunters into a night club to dance a bit and have the final pegs before he calls it a day. “Clubs are our competitors because of the difference in the pricing between them and us,� pointed out Sougat. “The taxes we pay are much more than the clubs. That’s why in spite of offering better service we are unable to draw the crowds for most part of the weekend evenings,� added Sougat. In other metros, party-goers don’t have much choice but to begin their evening early because they don’t have many clubs there.
Meanwhile, the government is happy with the way things are right now as far as timings go. “Kolkata is a safe city. We have a much lower crime rate as compared to other metros. In Mumbai for instance, the reason for the bars shutting down earlier is to ensure that criminal activities are kept at bay. We don’t need to do anything like that in Kolkata right now,� said the excise minister Prabodh Sinha. “If it’s a private party then one can pull it for any length of time. However a pub needn’t really be open beyond 2am,� said Piyush Pandey former DC(DD), Special Cell, Kolkata Police.
himika.chaudhuri@timesgroup.com