'Do your parents know you are here?' A new generation of young Indians is partying hard

Amy Kazmin:

It's Halloween at Love Shack, a spacious rooftop bar in Bangalore, the epicentre of India's information technology and call centre industries. The venue, evocative of a beach shack, is filled with students, software engineers, management consultants and other upwardly mobile youth - the boys still clad in office-casual and the girls decked out in form-fitting tops and minidresses, with teased hair and bright lipstick. Most patrons are knocking back drinks - women get two free - as Martin DSouza, a 27-year-old karaoke jockey, or KJ, spins the tunes.

Karaoke is popular in Bangalore, and customers vie for the microphone while the cheering crowd dances around the singers. Among the revellers is Priyanka Blah, 26, a free-spirited singer and artist manager with upswept hair, a gold hoop through her nostril and a tight, spaghetti-strapped top. Blah, who grew up in the northeastern town of Shillong, came to Bangalore as a student at just 16, and has lived here ever since. She has performed with her now-defunct electronica duo, Tempo Tantrick, and other singers, and writes about music, designs clothes and promotes musicians.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 18, 2012 2:02 AM
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