Although most communities follow their own calender, the first day of the Christian year is celebrated by all. Buses are garlanded. The city is in a festive mood, with decorations from Christmas past still very much in evidence. On New Year's Eve, parties are organised in clubs, hotels, restaurants and private homes. The city is illuminated.
People go to bed late.
Those who manage will go to the races the next day in the afternoon-a hangover 'must' in Calcutta. The Makar Sankranti festival in mid-January marks the winter solstice. The city in the second week of January is full of pilgrims on the way to the mela, sleeping in make- shift tents erected in Maidan. The festival lasts from 12th to 14th . On the day the Ganga Sagar Mela ends, the Baul Mela begins.