Not the time to disco

Party organisers suffer huge losses, as Mumbaikars cancel celebrations due to H1N1 scare

Party organisers suffer huge losses, as u00a0Mumbaikars cancel celebrations due to H1N1 scare

Swine flu is now playing party pooper. With the rise in swine flu cases, panic-stricken Mumbaikars are either cancelling or postponing birthday bashes, product launches, resulting in huge losses for party organisers.

The rising death toll left Swati Sardesai, an NRI from US now based in Mumbai, with no choice, but to cancel her son's thread ceremony that was to be held in Pune on August 15.
u00a0
"We had planned the celebrations three months back, but due to the rising number of swine flu cases we had to shift the venue to Mumbai," she said.

NO PARTY: Panic-stricken Mumbaikars have either cancelled or postponed bashes following the rise in swine flu cases.

The celebrations in Mumbai will be a small affair, as most of their relatives have called off plans of coming here.
Banquet hall owners and event managers are the most distraught.

Sahil A Sarang, assistant corporate manager from BJN Group that runs a banquet hall, confirmed that business has dropped by 62 per cent.
u00a0
"We have faced a huge loss in revenue and sales. There have been nine cancellations in one week," said Sarang.
u00a0
Utpal Vaishnav, CEO, Brandish Media & Entertainment Pvt Ltd, an event management firm in Juhu, echoed Sarang's views.
u00a0
"There were six cancellations in three days. Nobody wants to be present where there are 20 or more people," said Vaishnav.
u00a0
"The number of bookings has considerably gone down and there are no bookings for September," explained Mukta Fernandes, unit sales manager at Mayfair Banquets, Worli.

No Bhajans During Ganpati

You won't hear devotional songs at the Shiv Sena Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav Mandal in Parsiwada during Ganesh Chaturthi.

The organisers will instead play a six-minute documentary highlighting the dos and don'ts in case one has symptoms of swine flu and put up boards in Hindi and Marathi informing people about the H1N1 virus.

Art director Manoj Govekar said, "This is a great medium to create social awareness among the masses."

The 75 volunteers at the mandal will also provided with masks.u00a0u00a0

Alisha Coelho/Varun Singh