One half braves heat to vote, the other slips into holiday mood

KOLKATA: Elections split Kolkata into two contrasting halves on Thursday . While the north was busy with polling activities reaching a feverish pitch, the south slipped into a leisurely holiday mood with many choosing to take the day off.

Even as the police, central forces and voters swarmed localities in the north, public transport was scarce across the south and roads remained relatively empty . With central and north Kolkata turning dry owing to the polls, revellers flocked to restaurants and shopping malls in the south.

Those who chose to commute, however, had a harried time due to inadequate transport. Praveen Gupta (28), a resident of Prince Anwar Shah Road, had a tough time reaching his office in central Kolkata.

"I managed to get a bus after about half-an-hour on the road," he said.

Birojit Mondal (29) was startled to find the roads almost empty near his Garia home.

"It seemed like a Sunday .There were hardly any buses, while auto-rickshaws were fewer. I had to walk to the Metro station," he said.

Many chose to skip work and take it easy . Rituparna Nandan (25) stayed at home and spent time with her family and pets. "It's not often that you get a bandh-like ambience on a working day . So I decided to stay in and take it easy ," she said. Tollygunge resident Ashish Mishra, too, skipped office. He visited the South City Mall in the evening. "It seemed like a festive day at the mall. Generally, I prefer to stay indoors on polling days, but I made an exception this time. It is unnerving to watch poll violence on TV . But south Kolkata remained quite placid on Thursday and I enjoyed it," Mishra said.

With the liquor ban in force in central Kolkata, many flocked to the south for a swig. Restobar Mirch Masala in Gariahat saw a substantial surge in footfall. "We gained from the pollinduced ban in central Kolkata.This is the beer season, so central's loss has been our gain," said owner Joy Singhi.

Quest Mall didn't see a size able surge in footfall, though, but several from the north side went to just take a day off and hang out. Sahil Bagadia, who owns a garment store at Shyampukur, shut shop and came to watch `The Jungle Book' at the mall. "Though we had other options, we headed here just for a change. The roads were mostly empty and it's not often we head south," he told TOI.

At South City Mall, the food court saw a higher footfall compared to an average Thursday afternoon.

"It has been quite a while since we came here. And today being a dry day in our area, we made a plan to travel together to this side of the city ," said Arvind Agarwal, who visited a bar at the mall with a group of 11.