from Daijiworld's special correspondent

Panaji, Apr 14: As the Catholic brethren's 40-day-long Lenten season culminates on Saturday, Goa is pulling up its sleeves to host scores of parties for the season.

Goa, with around 30 per cent Catholic population, had gone off the party mode for the last 40 days during Lent, which are days of penance. After Good Friday, it's time for resurrection of Lord Jesus and Easter is celebrated with enthusiasm.

So also are the parties which begin from Easter-eve. "There will be a party almost every weekend. The domestic and foreign tourists alike will participate in it," explains Fransic Fernandes, co-partner, Earth Entertainment, an event management group.

Fransic's own firm has organized a "Bunny Party" at Villa Sol at Donapaula, 5 kms away from here which will have Goan DJs -  DJ Ajit, Dj Ashton, Dj Joel, Dj Rammy, Dj Vernon and Dj Manju performing in it.

"We are planning another big party on May 6 which will have bigwigs like former miss world Yukta Mookhie, Shaan, Rakhi Sawant, performing with Rakshanda Khan as host," stated fransic.

Increasingly these parties are getting the Bollywood touch with many filmstars making their presence felt for them. The organizers claim this as spilling of Bollywood from "Mumbai to Goa." But despite all this, the local Goan bands are on the forefront of entertainment.

Unofficial figure states that there are around 150 bands in such a small state, which has considerable influence of western music on it, being an erstwhile Portuguese colony. "There are 150 local bands performing and equal number of event management firms. We have new bands being formed every year and many bands are dismantled," stated Vincent Dias, event manager, Vivace Events.

Interestingly, big names in entertainment industry like INOX Entertainment Pvt Ltd have also chipped in to help out small players hold their events.