mangalurubengaluru on february 5 2012 a couple had sex in public on a beach in st marys island off udupi during the spring zouk festival organized by the udupi district administration in partnership with event manager 3w concepts as almost every mobile phone has a camera now some enterprising soul took a video of the event and posted it on social media the video went viral and rocked the then government of dv sadananda gowda for a brief period the furore died down but the ghost of spring zouk has reared its head up again in the form of a notification from the karnataka tourism department mandating new rules for event organizers in the state the rules mandate event organizers handing over details of all foreign invitees to partiesmusic shows to police and a curfew of 10pm for these events naturally event managers around the state are horrified at what they see as draconian and deeply xenophobic regulations on foreign tourists this notification defies logic the bureaucrat who has framed these rules has done it with the intention of killing the tourism industry here the government should take action against the official says yatish baikampady ceo of mangalurus panambur beach tourism development project pbtdp do tourism officials know what tourism is can they expect foreigners or indian guests to end parties by 10pm foreigners will want to enjoy local cuisine and music which will definitely go beyond 10pm says eulalia dsouza proprietor of mangalurus lia travels and tours dsouza points to the double standards inherent in the notification coming as it does less than a year after bengaluru extended the closing time for pubs to 1am and the fact that events in bengaluru are exempt from these rules it is fair to have police on the spot this ensures safety for everyone but invading others privacy by videographing them is not acceptable people may not come to entertainment events for instance if a cab driver violates traffic rules policemen have all the rights to videograph him but videographing the passenger in the car is not justifiable similarly videographing all foreigners is not justifiable says lavin uthappa director of coorgs storm festival the wording of the guidelines is vague causing event organizers further concern for example do foreign invitees include foreign attendees who have bought tickets to public events what about persons of indian origin who are citizens of other countries how do you define an event as being in line with indian culture some of the issues that these guidelines are intended to address are real after the spring zouk festival the beaches of st marys island had turned into garbage dumps littered with used condoms torn undergarments and plastic water bottles ecological damage was reported to have been severe law and order problems have also been rife foreigners have been harassed and molested at events across the state such rules can definitely save indian culture but will not promote tourism we had given permission to the international