Thanks to startups, America's Halloween is becoming a local festival in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Halloween, the American spook-fest with Celtic origins, is fast becoming a permanent fixture on Bengaluru's calendar. Corporate companies, cosmopolitan residential communities and the global city's night clubs, wait to celebrate the festival on October 31.

Given its cosmopolitan composition of employees most of who have travelled the world, the city's tech sector takes keen interest in Halloween. Bernard Corraya, head of advertising and business development at Wego.com, says, "We close office early. We don spooky accessories, drink punch and play Halloween games like horror-movie rivia and murder-mystery games."

Employees of Bengaluru-based online home-design provider Livspace have organised a costume party at a watering hole on MG Road this Saturday. Product marketing manager Swati Ailawadi says, "We have many employees who have worked abroad including our CEO Anuj Srivastava. Our office reflects the global culture."

Attributing Halloween's popularity to the startup culture as much to the well-travelled and expatriate population, Abhishek Kamani, founder and CEO of online office supplies provider Zoffio, notes, "Startups are pushing this culture because of their informal office environment. Employees are younger. They have more exposure to social media and have friends living in USA." Kamani has organised a contest for the best workspace décor for Halloween. The winning team will get gift vouchers and beer crates.

A glimpse at the city's nightlife reflects the same. Monkey Bar Indiranagar has organised Fright Night on Oct 31 with eerie cocktails and snacks, face-painting, photo booth and spooky accessories. Loft38, Church Street Social, 100-feet restaurant and Sanchos & Singkong have tribute nights and brunches. High Ultra Lounge, which saw 600 people in creative costumes last year, is gearing up for a bigger show this year.

Nirupa Shankar, director at Brigade Hospitality Services which owns High, incidentally, shares her birthday with Halloween. "Well-travelled youth keen to revel in popular world festivals and the rapid increase in the number of bars and restaurants have resulted in F&B outlets finding unique ways to entice merry-makers." Bakers are capitalising too. Joy Basu of Café of Joy in Whitefield has received orders for Halloween-themed cookies and cupcakes from expats and Indians who have lived abroad.

The child-friendly festival has many gated communities participating. Shamsah Pradhan, a resident of The Embassy on Cunningham Road, says, "Even a Diwali or Holi celebration can get cancelled or postponed. But Halloween is celebrated without fail. The creativity and excitement involved in dressing up makes it popular. Moreover, other festivals tend to have religious leanings. Halloween is for all." The mother-of-two said children giveaway a collection of candies to the poor.