Unruly IT mob ruins Hyderabad Lantern Festival spirit

Hyderabad: While over 15,000 floating lanterns as a pre-event for the Hyderabad Lantern Festival gave an ethereal touch to the Friday evening sky above the city’s financial district, the scene below was chaotic.

On road leading to Q City, starting from the Wipro circle, there was a frustrating traffic snarl, and a “war-like” environment, thanks to the crowd, comprising mostly of IT professionals, who behaved in a way the cops, the organisers and even a few of them “had not expected”. They snatched lanterns, littered the roads with plastic and had absolute disregard for queues.

The wrong venue
Though participants had booked their tickets online and knew the venue, they were still hoping for an open ground for lighting the lanterns. But they were in for some shock.

The lanterns were being lit right on the main road, in the by-lanes, on the dividers, the footpaths and next to power grids. Some of them got stuck on the trees, one to an electric pole; and a few could not take off and started a small fire in bushes.

Out of control
J. Ramesh Kumar, inspector, IT corridor, and Station House Officer, Gachibowli police station, who was in charge of the event, says, “We were expecting 3,000-4,000 people. But the turnout was unexpected. As soon as people saw stalls of lanterns on the road, they got their lanterns and started lighting them right there. Everybody followed.”

Rakesh Vanka, the man behind the event, adds, “I can’t even begin to explain the behaviour of the mob. Yes, we were planning to light the lanterns on the main road itself, but seeing the mob, traffic cops asked us to do it a little further down the bylane, which is abandoned. But the crowd never got to that space. ”

So, whose fault was it?
IT professional and one of the participants, Vikas Purbiya, says, “The event was supposed to start at 8 pm, but people started pouring in from 6 pm. Also, there was a last-minute change in the exact venue. But yes, it was the fault of the participants for coming in early they got angry and some even pulled the collars of the volunteers to hand over the lanterns. Seeing the chaos and that there are not many volunteers, my friends and I helped them distribute the lanterns. But there was no queue and absolute chaos. And the crowd that we are talking about were all ‘well-educated professionals’.”

Then there was the “mini-truck” carrying lanterns. Techie Reshma Lorance says, “People were behaving like refugees, as if these lanterns were their last option of food. They mobbed the truck. It continued for more than 40 minutes. Until the guys on the truck gave up and started throwing away lantern packets.”
 
Lessons learnt
Meanwhile, the organisers and the cops have learnt their lesson: Not to take the “educated, disciplined IT crowd” for granted.

Rakesh says, “I now plan to hold the main event in an open ground behind  Babukhan Cricket Ground.”