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Fear on the Necklace Road
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The blast has hit petty vendors more than anyone else
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Photo: Mohd. Yousuf
In fear The once-teeming Necklace Road now wears a near deserted look
The boy with the parking tokens saunters languidly across. Saturday evenings generally kept him on his toes, as vehicles streamed in noisily into the HUDA parking lot on the Necklace Road. But now he seemed to be in no great hurry. There were just a
few cars. The grassy lawn skirting the Lake lay desolately wet after the rain. The ‘bhutta’, and ‘chaat’ vendors manned their empty push carts (bandis), not expecting any customers. Four Saturdays on, fear still hangs low over the waters. “We used to make Rs.5000 a day on weekends. Now its down to Rs.1000”, says Mani of ‘Khush’, one of the tea/coffee and ice cream stalls on Necklace Road. “Public is scared after the bomb blast, saab”, adds Shankar another snack vendor chilling it out with his friends, as they stretch it out listening to Radio City FM . Could the low traffic of visitors not be because of fasting month of Ramzan? “Not really”, defends Khaleel who runs a mobile merry-go-round and a miniature ferris wheel for children as a livelihood “Even in Ramzan months I used to make a minimum of Rs.500 every weekend evening. Now its down to Rs.200”, his cap throwing a shadow on his pain -stricken face. “Nahin saab, I don’t observe Roza”, Khaleel shrugged dejectedly.
The splinters of the blasts which took place kilometres away had wrecked the livelihood of the scores of humble vendors. Nagesh is probably the least affected. People slow down their cars and pick up an ice cream from his mobile Kwality Walls. His daily earnings have dropped marginally from Rs.1,500 to Rs.1,000. His mobility has lent him relative immunity. A moving target is more difficult to hit, Al Ries and Jack Trout had stated in their management book ‘Marketing Warfare’.Young Riyas’ pony rides have dwindled too. From 30 rides an evening @ Rs.10 per ride, it is now down to five or maximum seven rides. And horses still need to be fed.
An empty express train, with its dark interiors, bereft of passengers, trundled wearily along past Yogi Bear park. A solitary carousal stood like an abandoned outpost outside Jalavihaar.
For head constable Ramulu, stationed at the point where the Necklace Road curves into there are hardly any parking offender vehicles to tow. In fact, there were no vehicles at all.“Post Ganesh immersion we expect normalcy”, Shankar said. “Sab theek ho jayega”, Khaleel is full of innocent optimism. Life is true. Fear is a phantom. As always, lets hope truth prevails on Necklace Road as well.
BALAJI VITTAL
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