Another year is coming to an end. We all bid adieu to 2009 and beckon in 2010, the beginning to a new decade. We have a lot to look forward to in the next year, most importantly for me is the FIFA World Cup in South Africa ( pardon my try at humor, but I am serious in a sense ). But we all have something or another waiting for us in 2010, it is tradition that we say goodbye to this year in a manner befitting it. New Year to most people is synonymous with parties(wild ones), crowds, huge gatherings of people and so on. Each culture has its own way of celebrating it. Kochi is soon picking up the pace on being social and trend-savvy to celebrate New year in all manner possible. So to those still planning on what to do for the New Year’s Eve, here are some suggestions that I can merely provide. Parties As always a lot of people look forward to the end of the year to let loose. Parties are on of the foremost places where you can do that, well in a sane manner at the least. Here are some parties to soothe your thirst, that is happening in Kochi on New Year’s Eve. The Gateway hotel One of the places where New Year parties have been happening over the past few years. Click for more info. Casino hotel The Casino Hotel has a retro theme to their New Year bash, if you in a retro mood check out the Casino in Wellington Island. Couple’s and Stag Entry’s cost Rs 5000/- , while kids get in cheaper. Magic shows,DJ nights and food is what’s in store for you. Renaissance Rejoice is their New Year program, which they have had since 2005 where they celebrate the New Year. Its accompanied by DJ’s, Live band’s, Professional Dancer’s, a huge Gala Buffet with more than 100 dishes to try out! This is another good place for families to try out. Taj Malabar One of the swankiest places in town. For fine dining check out their dinner and of course their water front lwans will be set afire by the festivities with a DJ and all the works! Dream Hotel Always a hot place in town for parties. Click for more info. Glow Disco Bar One of the clubs that offers regular parties. Bound to be a fun night over there. Click for more info. Gokulam Park Free Formation has a party setup for you over there.Click for more info. Le Meridien Celebrate the New Year with The Blue Torrent at Le Meridien. Music extravaganza by bollywood fame Shrradha Pandit, DJ’s,mega buffer dinner all await you for the New Year Celebration. Avenue Regent Have a succulent dinner at the Springs restaurant for the New Year or head to Loungevity, which has one of Kochi’s hottest dance floors and party your socks off late into the night. Ramada Resort Check out another hot party spot at the Ramada Resort, they are hosting the Song of the Seas New Year party with Kingfisher. Exotic dancers, three DJ’s, unlimited beverages,of course the food and more. Micheals Land Resort Another place that could be a good place to spend your New Year’s eve. Click for more info. DD Retreat Try out DD Retreat for fun with the family. Click for more info. Mermaid Hotel The Mermaid will host a Mermaid night to celebrate the New Year, with the familiar Filipino female band lending their music. Fireworks, cinematic & folk dance, karaoke and more are what they have in stock for you. Dinner parties If you aren’t exactly the socialite and prefer quiet dinners with your close friends to parties, a dinner at home is your best option. Whip up some of your best dishes, get your friends to pitch in with some of theirs too and welcome the New Year over some good food and Wine if you are in the mood for it. Go for whatever that fits your mood but remember the hangover that comes with it. So unless you have work to get to in the morning, have fun! Better stock up on drinks and groceries as soon as possible if you doing the hard way or have it done fast food style and order take-out. Experience the Surreal These are prone to had a risk tag to it as is done in the late hours, don’t worry its nothing illegal either. You can roam around the corners of Kochi where you wouldn’t be able to otherwise in peace during the day, watch the flights takeoff from the airport, the calm waves of the sea from the beaches, the alluring lights of the city from a high rise, its all up to your imagination. Park yourself at a strategic location and watch the Sunrise on the first day of the New Year with your close buds. But stay clear from any funny stuff and dangerous spots where criminals can catch you in a tight spot. Also don’t give the Police a reason to haul you in. Keep it neat and clean and you can experience something great, simple as it may seem. Cochin Carnivale Its harder to get to this event at Fort Kochi than any event in Kochi. The Thomppumpady bridge is jam-packed usually due to the majorly high influx of traffic into the Fort Kochi side and it is hard to get there with the police restricting vehicle movement. If you get there early enough or have two-wheelers as your mode of transportation, you really should try to get in the sight of the ‘Burning of the Santa’ on the beach side. Locals and foreigners alike throng to catch a sight of this spectacle. Note:The New Year is always the time to be merry, alcohol do form a major factor but do refrain from drunken driving, hire a driver or decide the designated driver between your chums, don’t cause misery to your family and to others. So on this note I wish you all A Happy New Year Kochi! See you in 2010!

New Year Blast with a trio of DJs at Glow Disco bar, Harbour View,Kochi. Music and tons of fun on this New Year’s Celebration. The Celebrations starts from 8 Pm onwards on the 31st. Opening Set DJ Avika from 8pm to 9.30pm, Commercial n Desi Set DJ Greg from 9.30pm to 11pm,Main Set (House n Trance) DJ Sachin 11pm to 4am. Party till early in the morning or till your feet give away! poster 002 (Medium) Entry is Rs.3000/- for a Couple or a Stag with Unlimited Food n Snacks & Limited Drinks. For more details Contact 9995200601 9249488888

Meet Sherin Sam. A super model who is working with the famed Ford model agency. Did we forget to mention she is a Kochiite? :D How did it go at Montenegro? It was an amazing experience because being a Malayali girl on an international level was great, I took the experience as it came to me, it was easy as I got trained in India itself, in Bombay. I had to do some shows over there for some big designers, walking the ramp and the exposure gave me a lot of confidence. Well I have no words to explain it and we were like 40 girls from different countries and we got the opportunity to share our cultures, we learned a lot of things.sherin_sam_model_kochi_india (1) Well the ford model agency is not that well known to most Indians, though on the international scale it’s a popular agency, it must be great to be a part of it. So what was your involvement in Montenegro? We had our grand final and I stood top 15. Age was a factor as they preferred girls as young as 14-15 to compete, and there ARE girls of that age. It’s only in India where they only allow girls of 18 years and above. Although age wise I stood back everyone liked me and we had sections like how to walk and how to talk to people, etc. We were given bags or shoes and we had to accessorize properly, even if they don’t fit well. They check all these aspects. There was this incident when I was hardly 2 months into modeling the director of the show had come over and asked me whether I could carry the dress as it was my first go at fashion show, and I confidently replied that I can. And after the show out of the 14 models the designer came to me and said that I carried his dresses the best, I was totally overwhelmed. I heard that people were unaware that it was your first time walking the ramp. Tell us your reactions A lot of people didn’t know that fact and when they found out they came to me and said that no one figured that it was my first time and I was like “never”. And the designer was asking me how I could carry the dress which weighed like around 10kgs if it was my first time with so much finesse. I felt great and like I had it within me, and i had to bring that out because it was like my country had sent me and I had to prove them. sherin_sam_model_kochi_india (3)Who is you favorite designer? Well I don’t want to name any.Being a model I don’t have any favorites . Of all the dresses I have worn of all the different designers i haven’t found any that I didn’t like or I liked more, and again being a model I have to appreciate them all. Who is your favorite photographer? Well I would say the one I had at Montenegro, his name was David. He was amazing and really good at what he did, especially because he knew what I wanted. It was like he could read my mind. In Bombay there a photographer named Praveen Talal and in Kerala Jamesh Kotakkal and one more called Binoy. These are some of the people who I love being on photo shoots with. sherin_sam_model_kochi_indiaHave you ever had prior modeling experience? No, I never had thought about it. Actually one of my friends had pushed me into it, for the southern pageant and I got picked by the ford agency as they considered that I had some international possibilities in me and so I picked Ford over Femina. I was planning on doing my pilot training before I had thought about modeling, but then I decided that I had it in me to go for this line of work and there was no harm in trying it out. So how long has this journey of yours been so far? How’s it treating you? It’s been 8-9 months. It’s treating me very well, other than the fact that before I joined up I used to love traveling but now I am kind of tired of it. It’s because I am not able to enjoy the place since its mostly work. But besides that I am enjoying everything, its showing me different things, people. I am learning a lot. The Montenegro experience gave me a chance to see a lot of the background of the 40 other contestants who had come from different parts of the world. They used to ask me how I count the numbers in my language, say the days of the week and so on. Some of them would ask me for some spicy food and I’ll just quickly cook something up and they would find it very spicy. I used to get them to try new stuff and they liked me a lot for all those. The ford agency wanted me to join them again but as of now I cannot as my folks need to think further on it. What do you think is the toughest part of this industry? Well there is nothing like that, if you have it within you then it’s easy for you, what i have to say is people has this notion that the fashion industry is morally wrong but I believe that in every field there is bad and good, its how you go about it that is important. If you go badly, you are bad, If you go good then you go really great. You get a lot of exposure, you get to travel around the world. So going to the other aspects like casting couches, wardrobe malfunctions, is it really a farce. Is it something people just exaggerate? Yes,Its blown out of proportions! Did you watch the movie fashion? Do you consider it over hyped? Yes, in that there were two aspects, in the beginning she goes through a bad path to achieve success and later she realizes what had gone wrong and chooses the right path. It’s how you choose to reach your goals that later decides your future. To an extent it is an exaggerated version of a model’s life. Would you agree to me if I say that modeling has a very short shelf life? No I wouldn’t agree to it. I don’t know why people have that mentality. Even in Kerala there is a lot of great talent who are genuinely interested in this field. But due to this outdated mentality which is present in their families they cannot explore their potential to the maximum. And a sad thing about the current industry is that Malayali talent isn’t given that much of a chance. Even if they are better or at the least stand their ground alongside models from elsewhere, they still go for models from Bombay and such. It’s high time to change that sort of preferences because we have so many budding talents that require space to explore. Local talent isn’t given opportunity. For example most of the textiles in Kerala prefer talent from outside Kerala, even though we have such a variety talent in our own state. It’s high time we try and change that mindset. People have to open up their minds. We are trying hard to change things in Kerala. Being a Malayali is like we don’t have the standards compared to other models from anywhere else. The Malayali tag is demeaning us professionally. So what do you see yourself doing after modeling? I am planning on sticking with this career for one more year and then I am thinking of gradually getting into movies. But not in the Malayalam industry because I don’t think I’ll fit into the genre of actresses this industry currently prefers.

The Dream hotel,Kochi plays host to the Dreams Unlimited New Year Bash. Party with DJ Sam and a cinematic troupe at the convention center, entry for all. Have a quiet dinner at the Roof Top Grill and enjoy some excellent Grills with a vantage view of the city. For the couples, the Ava Lounge is having a smashing party. Resident DJ’s Shekar and Nash will keep those bodies Grooving. At Rs 6000/- per couple entry you get 10 free drinks, unlimited snacks and a Buffet dinner. Print Passes for the lounge party are limited so HURRY! For more details Contact: 0484-4129999

Loungevity ‘Ft Shepherd John Presents House Music Night on the 26th of December 8PM onwards. 777 Club Rules Apply