HYDERABAD: The arrest of DJ Yogi might have shocked quite a few people and sent many more running for cover, however some of the city’s DJs haven’t yet noticed the missing youngster. Caught and arrested for the possession of 60 grams of marijuana, the DJ has currently been remanded in custody.
Though that is just the beginning of a sordid tale, he is tnot he first disc jockey to be caught for possession of marijuana.
DJ Yogi, whose actual name is Yogesh Patwardhan follows in the footsteps of DJ Nash and DJ Vicky.
What the jockeying community is most upset about is that the rest of them have to face the music for what a handful of bad eggs are cracking.
“People get misled a lot and it’s really up to them to either go astray or stay put.
That’s just one or two of them.
But the whole DJing circuit gets a bad name and falls under the scanner.
That’s not really fair to the rest of us,” commented Ajay Joseph, a DJ in the city for the past 17 years.
Agreeing, DJ Amit who plays regularly at 10 D, Liquids and a host of other places, says, “We’ve lost one more good DJ to this.
First it was Nash.
For these kids it’s become like a label.
The notion is that to be a part of the ‘in’ crowd and to be ‘hot and happening’, one needs to do drugs and what-not.
But this has become a menace that’s eaten into the city.” Having been in the circuit for the past 27 years, he observes, “The trend is something that has become prevalent only in the last one-anda- half years.
Places like Bombay and Goa have always had this, but Hyderabad seems to be picking it up more rampantly now.” Responding to the situation, deputy commissioner of police, West zone, M Stephen Raveendra said, “We’ve busted quite a few before and have been keeping an eye on them.
We’ve warned everyone in general and a couple did mend their ways but Yogi continued and we finally caught him.
A lot of people are involved from DJs to event managers.
We’re trying our best to round them all up.
We’ll be keeping tabs on everyone.” One of the jockeys, fairly new to the DJ-ing world, on the condition of anonymity, commented, “Honestly I’m not surprised that Yogi was arrested.
He had coming for a while.
You’ll find that most of people caught or into drugs are youngsters.
They have a lot of talent and they need to focus on that instead of getting caught up in these kind of things.
We shouldn’t ban them, but maybe we should regulate them.” On a completely different note, 55-year-old Black Jack (stage name) had his two cents to say.
“India’s whole ethos is about marijuana if you look at our Indian mythology.
The whole romanticism and Lord Shiva’s addiction has made marijuana a social drug.
That being said, it boils down to personal choice.
It’s a serious problem if people are getting into hard drugs like crack and chemicals.”