Mangaluru: ‘Booze party’ during weddings and other events has become a common arrangement. However, a change is slowly catching up in Belthangady, thanks to the unique effort of Shri Vinayaka Shri Rama Bhajana Mandali of Andinje.
People had been organising booze parties during almost every event, due to a societal compulsion and pressure to belong, despite their financial background. Any event without booze party is often looked down upon and the families hosting such parties are called misers.
However, noticing that such booze parties often end up in fights and chaotic incidents, a group of youth from Andinje village decided to hold Bhajan programmes replacing drinks party.
Usually, this Bhajan team performs Bhajan programme during the religious programmes in their village. But, recently they started to perform Bhajan programme in other private programmes also. With traditional attire, the members of this Bhajan team make sure that booze parties are not held and non-veg food is not served at events where they perform.
Pranesh, secretary of Bhajana Mandali told newskarnataka.com that it is just an attempt to prevent youth from falling victim to the alcohol. “We have been receiving very good response. This means, people were eager to see a change and were waiting for something like this to happen. We dance to devotional songs, which is very entertaining as well,” he said.
Prashanth, the member of Bhajan Mandali informed that they don’t take any fee for their performance. “Involving in Bhajan programmes helps us to get relieved from stress. Though some people are not ready to accept our two conditions of doing away with alcohol and non-veg food during programmes, it is inevitable for us to put such conditions as we need to follow some religious guidelines too”, he adds.
