If you thought that a temperature hovering just over 10 degree Celsius would keep the Mumbaikars indoors, think again.
If you thought that a temperature hovering just over 10 degree Celsius would keep the Mumbaikars indoors, think again.
So much so that even finding seats in an ice-cream parlour at midnight seemed difficult. Now, that may be asking for trouble like cold, cough and influenza. But they obviously did not care.
After all, it is not every day, in fact, not even every year, that Mumbai experiences a winter like this. It is almost the end of January and the feel is that of December-end and that too being in Delhi.
Areas like Lokhandwala, Shivaji Park, and Bandra were chock-a-block with youngsters grabbing the opportunity to literally chill out. In fact, the numbers swelled on Sunday, which turned out to be the coldest day for several years.
“Every year we plan an outing to a hill station in the summer. But this year winter in Mumbai has been so cold that we need not go elsewhere,” said Amit Gupta, a businessman from Andheri.
But for Ruchira Vichare and her friends taking a stroll at Shivaji Park, followed by a quick ice-cream at the nearest Natural’s has become almost a daily affair.
“Since the past ten days we have been regularly coming to Shivaji Park, and after a brisk walk we go to the ice-cream parlour,” said Ruchira, who works with a BPO in Malad.
Boozers, however, prefer to stay indoors and enjoy their drink. With the traffic police strictly enforcing the campaign against drunken driving, people have stayed away from boozing out.
“Instead, they order for their favourite brands at home,” said Mansukhlal Shah of Juhu Wine shop.
Interestingly the sale of hard drinks has gone up considerably. Except for beer, sales of all other hard drinks have gone up by 15% to 20%.
“We have our regular customers ordering for their favourite brands to be home delivered. Sales have picked up substantially in the last fortnight,” said a representative of Enjay Wines in Andheri East.
However, hoteliers say the cold weather has affected their business adversely. “People prefer to stay home. Our daily customers also prefer to drink at home,” said Manjit Singh Sethi of the Indian Hotels and Restaurants Association.
k_shweta@dnaindia.net
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