A deathly silence prevailed over the area as many of the regular party hoppers stayed away from the city's original 'dining street' on the first Sunday after the blaze that claimed 34 lives.
The usual Sunday revelry at Park Street, famous for its eating and drinking joints, was conspicuous by its absence this evening, five days after a devastating fire gutted a multi storeyed building on this upscale central Kolkata road.
A deathly silence prevailed over the area as many of the regular party hoppers stayed away from the city's original 'dining street' on the first Sunday after the blaze that claimed 34 lives.
"We have registered at least 10-15% less footfall as compared to last weekends. That comes to about 50-60 people less than the average crowd on a weekend in the bar and the restaurant," RD Pereira, one of the managers of Trincas, a legendary restaurant associated with the time of gas lamps in the city, told PTI.
To reflect the phoenix-type spirit of Park Street, Trincas had been open all through last week though many faithfuls were absent.
"I hope we can only move on from here. Last week was typically bad...one of the worst times, but with the faithfuls turning up in one and twos this Sunday, the occupancy is filling up and we are past the nightmare," he said.
However, for Nitin Kothari of Peter Cat, a famous eating joint housed in the ill-fated Stephen Court, it is a 'Black Sunday' for Park Street and many of its eateries.
"I have been getting phone calls from my loyal customers... All my 100-odd employees are inquiring everyday. We don't know what lies in store for us," said the owner of Peter Cat, closed since the flames raged through the upper floors of the building on Tuesday.
As the old and young alike were seen savouring the rum-ball, Viennese coffee and assorted confectioneries at the temporarily shifted premises of the famed Flury's, founded in 1927, a young faithful, Amulya, said she was missing the flavour of the original place.
"I had been frequenting Flury's on almost every Sunday evenings since my childhood, first with my parents and then with my friends. But this cramped place seems to be strange, lacking the typical feel of the ornate room," said the 21-year-old, savouring pastries along with a friend.
The director, communications, The Park and Flury's, Indira Basu said, "Even as the wounds are still raw and losses mounting, we realise that we must move on as we have the role to help the city shake off the nightmare, restore the comfort level and come back to normalcy."
For Derek O Brien, the celebrity quiz-master who frequents the Park Street, said, the look of the road, haunted by ghost of fire, was "terrible and depressing to say the least on a Sunday evening".
A spokesman of Step-On, the restaurant next to the main entrance of Stephen Court, said they had to throw away biryani and other dishes rotten for the past five days with its door closed.
Oliver, Luke and Patrick, three youths from London on a trip to the city, were dismayed with the look of the forlorn deserted food corners and the crowd presence before the ravaged buildings in stark contrast.
"It's not the same Park Street we had witnessed last Sunday sitting at the Flury's. We had been to Olympia pub today, but the mostly vacant tables stared at us," Oliver said.
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