HYDERABAD: Just when we were all trying to get back to living a normal life by spending time with friends and family, planning a weekend getaway and attending events, 2022 has hit us with a surge in Covid-19 cases.
This has taken us back to square one — forcing us to shrink guest lists, leaving venues with no option but to run with 50 per cent occupancy and making organisers cancel events. One such event that Hyderabadis were looking forward to was Sunitha and Stephen Devassy’s concert at Shilpakala Vedika. Sandeep Gudi, organiser of the event, says, “The Telangana government issued orders to cancel public shows until January 10, and so we postponed the event. We are not sure about an alternative date. Most such events in the city had to be delayed,”
While Lamakaan hasn’t shut itself down completely, the events have been called at the moment. “We are not shutting Lamakaan down completely, we haven’t decided on that yet, but we had to stop hosting all our events. Our halls remain close, but the campus and the cafeteria will be open for visitors from 10 am to 10 pm. If the number of cases goes up, then we will have no choice but to shut it down completely.
We took this decision even before the government passed an order to do so,” shares Kranthi Mandalaparthy, manager at Lamakaan. The cultural space opened for events at the end of November 2021, which hosted over 6 plays, 2 book launches, among others. Right now, over 8 events at the venue stand cancelled due to the omicron scare.
Jay Jha, co-founder of Rangbhoomi, says that the guidelines laid by the government are unclear. He explains, “The order wasn’t properly communicated by the authorities. The notification which we had received reads that mass gathering is not allowed. Now we’re not sure what kind of number refers to ‘mass gathering’. Is it 50 or more? We don’t know.
Because look at cinema halls in Hyderabad, they’re running with 100 per cent capacity — we believe if that’s not a problem, ours won’t be too. So right now, we’re running at just 50 per cent of capacity amid all Covid protocols. We did have to cancel two plays, because it depends on the organisers too. While we await clearer instructions, we’re doing all we can to keep the virus away.”