Despite a ban on social gatherings and parties amid the ongoing pandemic, most Indian families are enjoying the New Year holiday at home with a traditional meal, kept inside both by the new restrictions and exceptionally foggy weather.
“It’s the first time that I have seen such thick fog,” said four-year-old Srishti, who was amused to notice that the gate of her house has ‘disappeared’ along with the trees across the road.
For her mother, Rohini, it’s going to be a busy day. She is bustling in the kitchen, determined to put her culinary skills to the test for her family’s sake. “I always felt that the best celebration possible is with the family and today the whole world is practising it,” the young housewife in her late twenties told Sputnik on New Year's Day.
Food delivery services are operating in high gear for those who are unable or not particularly willing to prepare holiday meals for themselves. “I am ordering my favourite food and inviting my best friends over for lunch to ring in the New Year,” said Monica, another housewife.
The temperature in Delhi plummeted to 1.1 degrees Celsius on New Year’s Eve and states in North India, including Punjab and Haryana saw the mercury dropping to zero in several places.
#Delhi shivers at 1.1 °C, 'very dense' fog lowers visibility to zero in parts of NCR https://t.co/ED0g2a4q6F #DelhiFog #WeRIndia pic.twitter.com/wxqhTPxvJG
— Werindia (@werindia) January 1, 2021
There was no respite from work for the police, as they stringently enforced a ban on parties and social gatherings on New Year's Eve.
“It’s the first time in my life that I am seeing empty roads outside this club and ensuring it stays empty. Mostly there are hundreds of people here on New Year night, dancing on the roads,” an elderly policeman, Rakesh Gupta, relayed to Sputnik outside Chandigarh Club in the city of Chandigarh, 250 km north of New Delhi.
