New Year celebration in Bhubaneswar

Residents of Bhubaneswar celebrated New Year 2013 with blessings from God and warm get-togethers with folks and friends.

While the misty morning saw devotees queuing up in multitudes at the temples, the evenings witnessed busy streets with revellers raring to hit the party circuit. There were get-togethers all around to raise a toast to the New Year at the stroke of midnight.

Hundreds of devotees visited every temple in the city. They wished and worshipped before the deities for a safe and prosperous New Year. The prayer hours were also made lenient and extended well beyond the usual noon. Interestingly, there were more youths in the queues than senior citizens.

“This is my final year of engineering. I needed to pray for good scores. Hope my wish is granted,” said Piyush Nanda, a student.

“Since it will be fun and party in the second half of the day, my friends and I decided to start the day on a spiritual note,” said Monalisa Das, a corporate employee.

It’s that time of the year again when florists, restaurateurs and bakers do brisk business in the city. As flowers of varied hues hit the markets, local retailers capitalized on a last-minute shopping spree on New Year’s Eve with the sale of fresh-flower bouquets and baskets in the city going up by around 30% while prices were pumped up by 60 to 100%.

With offers raining at malls, the crowd only got thicker by the evening. Gift stores, in particular, saw a huge footfall of young crowd.

All the multi-storey buildings, be it malls, hotels, apartments or government offices, were decorated with strings of colourful dazzling lights. Florists who opened their kiosks along the streets a day before enjoyed brisk business.

Though greeting cards have long succumbed to the advent of internet cards and mobile SMS service, several college students still take the paper route to communicate their feelings, encouraging shops to stock a wide variety of New Year cards. Gift items like soft toys, mementoes, table stands and leather items have flooded the market on the occasion too.