I am used to it, says Zaveri Bazaar shop-keeper

After Wednesday's blast which left a once-famous Khau-Galli (food-street) in Zaveri Bazaar area here blood-spattered, it was business as usual for 55-year-old Zaki Khambati today.

Barely two days after the blast that killed seven persons and injured several others in Zaveri Bazaar (total of 18 persons were killed in three blasts) Khambati opened his jewelry-tools shop this morning. His was the first shop in the area to resume business.

It is situated a foot away from the site where the bomb went off.

"I have witnessed 1992 riots when the shops in the area where burnt and (subsequent) 1993 blast. The area has been attacked thrice and it seems nothing is going to change much. I am used to it. We had to return to work...its business as usual," a nonchalant Khambati told PTI.

"The area attracts a lot of crowd throughout the day, vehicles are parked here and then there are food stalls...it is all a nuisance," he said.

Police cordoned off the area after the blast. "They were not allowing me to open the shop today. But after sometime, they opened the area."

Khambati was inside the shop when the blast took place. "The explosion was so loud that our computer and furniture were damaged."

He complained about heap of garbage nearby. "There is this open space where garbage is lying for quite sometime. We have been complaining to the local authorities but nothing has happened yet. This time we have been assured that it will be removed soon."