New Year's eve 2010

From an exclusive dinner costing Rs 30,000 to a buffet at an affordable Rs 1,650 per person, New Year’s Eve in the city’s big hotels will be a motley celebration. There’s something for every budget, and most Mumbaikars aim to put their best party shoe forward. But whether they are hosting Bollywood actors or regular patrons, hotels are aware that the extended deadline and the existing security threat to crowded places call for installing proper deterrence for “unwanted elements’’.

While the Taj hotel witnessed unprecedented horrors during 26/11, J W Marriott in Juhu saw its NRI guests become the target of rowdy molesters two years ago. In one hotel, guests have been provided photo identification, while the management of another five-star claims to have consulted an Israeli security agency.

There is, however, a tribe of Mumbaikars that has chosen to start 2010 with a prayer. Both Siddhivinayak and Shirdi temples are expecting over two lakh devotees.