Halloween in Bangalore is no longer about being a party theme anymore. Inspired by the films, games and TV series they watch, children have now begun to adopt the fun customs around the festival that is meant to remember the dead.
And for the grown-ups the treat is in the costume parties being thrown around town. Sandeep Kumar, who owns the store chain, Party Mania says, “Halloween business has picked up ‘500 per cent’.” He has been organising Halloween parties for the past four years and has seen Bangaloreans go the whole hog with dressing up in funky disguises, joining in parades and of course, enjoying getting spooked.
Children are excited with this whole new activity. Like 11-year-old Ahana Das. She will be out knocking on the doors of homes in the apartment complex, Akme Harmony, she stays in on Sarjapur Road, asking if the residents would like to ‘trick or treat’ her. Ahana is excited, it’s her first Halloween. Her parents, Shubrojit and Sohini, both working with investment firms, are amused by the ‘new-age’ customs their daughter is already picking up. “I was introduced to Halloween through movies but it had remained a foreign concept until last year when we moved in here. Ahana spotted children in the complex going on their rounds on Halloween and she wanted to be a part of it,” says Sohini.
The practice has caught on in quite a few gated communities along the Outer Ring Road where expats and US-returned families are greater in numbers.
Vedika Murthy lived in the US for three years where her software engineer father was posted. Celebrating Halloween helps her not miss the life she’s left behind. “It’s not as grand as in Connecticut, but it’s still something,” says the 12-year-old.