HYDERABAD: New Year's eve is the time to Step Up. And stepping up, they are. Students, who couldn't make it home, are, perhaps, more than glad to stay back, be it at the Osmania, Central University or the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU).“The place is of least importance. It is the company you keep and 'stuff' that makes one a true party,” points out a student at UoH. Banking on his "stuff", he makes light of the Herculean efforts the police have been putting in ahead of that midnight stroke. By "stuff", he means grass (cannabis). “We may have alcohol aplenty but without some ganja, it just doesn't serve the purpose," admits another student. The university, located on the outskirts, is also "ideal" for party animals like him given that police do not dare enter the campus any time and least of all, on new year's eve."We do not want to go pubbing. We have our landscape and comfortable hostel rooms," says another student. His friend, echoing his views, chips in, "the recent restrictions imposed on new year parties in the city have made the university campus the best choice for celebrations.” Procuring grass is no big deal though it is fraught with some risk. "What's a party without grass? We smoke up during regular meet ups, how can we avoid it during new year's night?” questions an EFLU student, wondering at the stupidity of the question.The varsity, which has had a very bad year, is also home to foreign students.Some of them as well as some Indian students on the campus in fact openly confess their addiction to drugs. According to them, the stuff, as they call it, is available just yards away from the campus. To be precise at Sitaphalmandi bridge where drug peddlers sell a few drugs, including ganja, to the students and the price tag begins from Rs 50 a packet.Foreign students, who are not into durgs, too seemed concerned about the increased police vigilance ahead of the new year.“Apart from the language and geographical barriers, the recent restrictions have made it even more difficult to plan our new year celebrations,” explains a Nigerian student in EFLU. There are others too who want to turn a new leaf. Sebastian Joseph, a research scholar at UoH, says, “I plan to go to church on the night when everyone parties. It's a hard decision but I want to have a better life."
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