Pubdate: Sun, 01 Feb 2004
Source: Times of India, The (India)
Copyright: Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 2004
Contact:  http://www.timesofindia.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/453
Author: Sachin Parashar

DELHI HAS LOTS TO RAVE ABOUT

Will a moon so bright ever arise again? Drink a cupful of wine and ask of 
the sky. I don't know where the palace gate of heaven is, Or even the year 
in which tonight slips by .

NEW DELHI : A starry night with the wind still and the moon shining in all 
its splendour.

About 800 people gyrating to music at 150 beats a second at a clandestine 
location near the Delhi-Gurgaon border in southwest Delhi . And before you 
know it, you are one among the crowd, dancing with your arms in the air, as 
if nobody knew you. Nobody does actually.

Welcome to the new-age, psychedelic nirvana or the rave parties where 
almost nothing is taboo.

There is unbridled fun though. Hundreds of people, from anywhere between 15 
to 40 years old, high on drugs like LSD, cocaine, Alprax, acid and 
marijuana. Gone are the days when heroin and opium were considered "with it".

And gone are the days when cocaine was available at Rs 2,500-3,000 per gram 
in these parties. "In the last year or so cocaine has become the lifeblood 
of such parties.

There is a feeling that you can't enjoy raves if you don't have cocaine and 
people are willing to pay as much as Rs 7,000 for a gram," says a director 
of an event management company which organises rave parties. An acid shot 
now comes at Rs 3,000 and ecstasy pills anywhere between Rs 800 to Rs 
1,500. Another drug which is much in demand these days is Alprax, a mood 
enhancer. The PLUR (peace, love, unity and respect) factor, which was 
coined to describe the ideal rave vibe, is now beginning to take Delhi by 
storm.

The parties, the invitations to which are mostly through SMS, web sites or 
just by word of mouth, start only after midnight and continue till late in 
the morning.

The frenzy of dancing is matched by the electronic dance music, commonly 
called techno, which lulls the conscious mind even as it stimulates the 
sub-conscious mind and body. "Even though raves are mainly restricted in 
Delhi to farmhouses or big hotels, people here seem to be taking to trance 
music in a big way. Most of the young DJs now know how to play it," says 
Seema Gill, an associate with a Goa-based DJ.

Naturally, raves are the playground of the rich and the famous. The 
organisers, however, tend to disagree.

"There are close to 100 rave parties held during weekends in south Delhi 
and Gurgaon. It's not just models, fashion designers or members of rich 
industrialist families now. Young corporate executives are taking part in a 
big way," says the director.

For young executives, raves are fast taking over as a break from their 
otherwise dour, competitive lives.

"This is one place where I don't need to watch my back all the time. I keep 
coming back not because I can't enjoy the music elsewhere, but because of 
the positive energy of the people around me who are allowed to have more 
fun here than they would be outside," says Manish Singh, a manager with a 
finance company based in Connaught Place.

Concurs Shamita Sachdev, a college-goer, "There is almost a mystical 
experience about the meaning of life and death here; an escape from the 
world of imperfections. It's a celebration of life to me."

Most ravers, however, deny the popular perception of these parties as sex 
orgies or a place where predatory sexual behaviour is encouraged. "I think 
the use of ecstasy which is linked with sexual abandon has fuelled this 
perception. There is nothing to suggest that there are random sexual acts 
in these parties, at least not yet," says Sachdev.

Others like Singh, however, believe that fun in any form at the raves is 
what keeps them going. "There is nothing predictable about ravers except 
for the fact that they all want to have fun. What's wrong with it?"
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman