Girls dance at Ranchi Club on the eve of New Year. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Jan. 1: The city ushered in the New Year with vehicles being decorated with balloons pasted on them and posters with “Happy New Year” written in bold colours in and outside the capital.

Celebrating the first day of the year is a regular phenomenon and people try to decorate their vehicles to give it a snazzy look differentiating it from the others.

Ranchiites picnicked all day long ushering the New Year and exchanging greetings with friends and families. Picnic spots were crowded with revellers and even tourists who had come from Calcutta to celebrate the New Year in the city.

The favourite spots for picnickers were Jonha Falls, Dassom Falls, Hundru Falls, Panchghat, Birsa Munda Zoological Gardens and Rock Garden.

People flocked in large numbers trying to make the first day of the year special and memorable. Himanshu, a resident of Ratu road said: “We go for a picnic with relatives and family friends in the New Year. This has become a regular practice and all of us eagerly wait for the day. It is very exciting to prepare lunch out in the open,” Himanshu said “The picnic spots around the city are also very interesting and each year we try a different spot,” Himanshu added

Sudden showers yesterday dampened the mood of revellers and not many people wanted to brave the cold and get wet by dancing in the open.

Unlike other years when people of different localities formed groups and danced on the roads, this year’s chilly weather forced most people to be indoors.

The “Night of the Blue Moon” organised in the Ranchi Club on December 31 was a hit with the members. People thronged the dance floor in the new multi-purpose hall jiving to pulsating music jiggled out by pop sensation Edwin Fernandes and his team Fernandes made a modest beginning with Peter Andre’s “Mysterious Girl” and later went on to other fast tracks.

The new club hall was hastily completed to house the party and small silver balls were hung from the ceiling. Coloured lights timed in sequences were also put in the corners of the hall.

Initially, very few people made it to the dance floor but slowly as the time for the New Year came closer, people shed their inhibitions and freaked out on the fast music.

Just before midnight Fernandes started with some Hindi remix numbers on minus one track. The 1960s Kishore Kumar number “Eena Mina Dika” set the dance floor on fire and everybody tried their hand in the “twists” done by the actresses in the movie. Oldies of yesteryears were a hit with the members.

“Our aim is to give the members a different theme each year. We try our best to bring a change in the music and atmosphere and give something in a new package. It is not only music and dancing that matters, the entirety has to be taken into account to make the night memorable,” said Ranchi Club secretary Sunil Verma.

Besides the club and partygoers, there were youngsters who could not make it to those “elite” places.

They danced to the tunes of Nagpuri songs and other popular Hindi songs on the street corners. They grouped together and danced and played the numbers in full volume till midnight.