India welcomes 2007 with gusto

HAPPY NEW YEAR! India ushered in 2007 with a lot of merry-making and fireworks.

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New Delhi: Look who's arrived! It's 2007. India ushered in the New Year with a lot of merry-making and colourful fireworks.

In Bangalore, the pub capital of India, the festive spirit flowing high. While in Goa, the beaches were the party hot spots - the terror alerts sounded over the past few weeks not seeming to have dampened the spirit of tourists at all as the parties went on in flow flow till well past midnight.

A few miles away from the pomp in Goa, Mumbaikars rang in the New Year with a bang.

As the clock struck midnight, a party hosted at the J W Marriot reached it's climax with Mallika Sherawat performing for the guests.

Despite high-flying spirits, the Mumbai Police did all it could to try and step up cab rides in an effort to curb drunk driving. A liquor company even offered cab rides home to those who had had a glass too many

Down south, celebrations hit a spiritual note at Tirupati, the temple town being one of the top destinations of the new year - a record 2 lakh people were at the Tirumala Devasthanam to ring in 2007 with a first glimpse of their God.

The who's who of the country thronged the hill shrine seeking divine blessings.

In the Capital, most mobile phone networks were jammed around midnight. Mobile and landline phone subcribers had a tough time getting in touch with relatives and friends to wish them a Happy New Year due to the network logjam.

Both private networks and the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited were down due to a heavy traffic rush and customers were unable to either make calls or send text messages on their handsets.

Domestic and international calls were also hit due to the congestion as people across the country rushed to make calls on ISD and STD lines during the annual switchover.

While the fog threatened to dampen the party spirit and delayed flights and traffic disruptions were being party poopers, but none of that stopped Delhiites from welcoming the New Year in high spirits.

Forgetting the winter chill and the fog, people thronged shopping malls, multiplexes, discotheques and other haunts, with the main draw being the brightly-illuminated Connaught Place where revellers blew paper bugles to herald the New Year.

Thousands of police and RAF personnel were deployed to ensure the celebrations did not go out of hand and a special watch was maintained to check drunken driving and eve-teasing.

(With inputs from PTI)