At The Crescent, the New Year Carnival was organized by the Crescent Cultural Committee comprising Renu Bajpai, Rita Gupta, Shruti Goel and Vanita Raina on the freezing cold New Year Eve i.e. 31 December, in the central park. As the mercury reached its nadir, the Crescent lawns reverberated with vociferous dance numbers, inviting the residents to absorb in the resounding music. To neutralize the chilly and frosty weather, there were temporary “angithis” kept at regular intervals. Fresh snacks and hot coffee was also present. The DJ kept the party alive with foot stamping chords.
The party started with “Saraswati Vandana”, followed by children’s performances – solo dance by Hitanshi Jain; group dance by Hitanshi and Samridhi; and another group dance by Mihika, Prisha, Shubhrata and Vardhini. Shri Ram Kapoor gave a comedy performance on a politician’s impromptu speech in Punjab, followed by a soothing Punjabi number. Residents of all ages came up with more singing performances with ardent strings by Nirmala Tandon, Rishabh Tandon, Ankur Jain and young Vardhini and Yuvaan.
The highlight of the evening was the “Tambola with a twist”. The cultural committee had innovated the prizes and game rules with theme based on Welcoming the New Year. There were two tickets, symbolizing the year gone by (2023) and coming year (2024), and both tickets were to be played together. Prizes were based on six lines, blocks named Oct’23 to Mar’24, Jackpot of numbers 20 and 24 in a ticket, last and first line combined symbolizing transit of years, Blood Pressure with highest and lowest numbers in the symbolic years tickets, fistful of numbers with highest and lowest numbers cut in tickets, early eight and six full houses from the two tickets along with most unlucky and most lucky in the end.
The dinner was hot and sumptuous, with fresh tandoori rotis from cylindrical clay Indian ovens. The party continued after dinner with musical chairs. The residents danced through the night towards New Year, and as clock ticked twelve, the central park was filled with cheers, applauses and jubilations.
As New Year dawned at Crescent, the words of Goran Persson became a symbol for Crescentarians – “We will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word”. Crescent is an epitome of community living and will continue to be a role model to all in the year ahead!
