Dance Bar girls

MEGHNA MAITI

Mumbai

Ominous red neon lights, mysterious tunnel, nasty stares above the overflowing beer bottles- strange music from looming speakers and even stranger dance movements of the bar girls, like a ritual dance around a crowd in which even a mighty will turns vulnerable. The view of the constantly passing dance women by their rupee-flashing clients grows so magical that it cannot hold anything else. It seems to be there beyond everything; and behind the bars; creating a different world.

One might expect such an illicit world in Amstardam, Pattaya or Los Angeles. But this time it’s Mumbai- the dimly lit masti hubs that were shut down by the state government. Almost a decade later, to be more precise- eight years, the Mumbai dance bars are mounting a comeback, the Supreme Court announced on Tuesday. The court upheld an earlier Bombay High Court order that allowed dance bars to reapply for licences.

Industry experts say the dance bars revival is largely tied to the soaring popularity of Mumbai night life and employment of women as dancers, waitresses and singers. “Mumbai night life had lost its lustre because of moral policing. This move had also come in the way of tourism in the city. The permission for re-opening would make way for may other colourful aspects of Mumbai night life,” Kamlesh Barot, past president of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (western India) told Financial Chronicle.

The government of Maharashtra in 2005 banned performances in dance bars, mainly watering holes and taverns where owners pay dancers. The Association of Dance Bar Owners, the Bharatiya Bargirls Union and The Indian Hotel and Restaurants Association were among those who challenged the state government’s ban in 2005. The state government said there were 307 licensed dance bars in Mumbai with around 4,300 women employees. 

"This was an example of government's hypocrisy, and the Supreme Court has proven that. Has anyone cared about those girls who lost their jobs?" Manjit Singh, president of the Mumbai Bar Owners Association, told CNN-IBN news channel.

In Mumbai, night life had shifted to small pubs, discotheques and one-off rave parties, illegal spaces, according to industry experts. “This would help all those women who have lost their livelihood. It will definitely bring in more international tourists,” said Dinesh Naik, restaurant and banquet manager of Fern Meluha Residency, a Mumbai-headquartered hotel.

Following the top court’s ruling Tuesday, restaurants and bars will have to apply for new licenses before they restart dance performances, Veena Thadhani, a lawyer for the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association told Wall Street Journal.

meghnamaiti@mydigitalfc.com

ENDS

Early Morning

This morning I woke up to looming blueness of the Mumbai night sky that was slowly paving way to a clear, rain-soaked day with blurring boundaries. The first hour of the dawn appeared like a cicada against the evolving sky- filled with a whiff of fresh desire. A sharp spell of overnight rain slowed to slight drizzle around the orange glow of the streetlamp. I could hear the patter of cold rain on the corrugated sun-shade of my window; the swish of an empty, polythene bag on the wide, wet road; the cawing of a drenched crow on the telephone wire as it tumbled out of it and streaked against the grey sky.

The soaked cat laid swelling on the pavement beside the drain. Water ran freely through man holes on the tarred road, the symphony of navigating water through a dozen channels merged with a sound of a stray dog urinating onto the corners.

Behind the surreal cobweb, the buildings looked abandoned, something melancholic about their streaked windows. The limping beggar squinted against the grime and dangled his muddy bare feet from the cemented staircase across the museum. An old man waded through water and leaned against the lamp-post with a cup of tea, all eager to settle the dust of his life when the rain trickled in.

The hissing and hooting of tiny, wild creatures seemed like a giant whisper. The tall gulmohar trees lining the street looked as bright and effervescent as newly-wed brides. The entire area turned a soothing green. The wildness of the entire wide, deep Mumbai universe spread out wild feelings- memories unbounded by wild memories like dark, cavernous clouds. It swooped down suddenly into my mind space. And just as easily broke the existing chasm between time, space dimension to let a deluge of memories flow through.

Meghna Maiti

 ENDS