The Ram Mandir stop on Central Avenue was more of a shopping destination for the latest bling in desi suits and saris.

That the stop was named after the only Ram temple in the city dawned after all the hubbub about the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

“It is the only Ramchandra temple in the whole of India,” claimed Hemant Jalan, a trustee of the Seth Soorajmull Jalan Trust which runs the Sri Ramchandra Temple.

The marble plaque at the gate proclaims its vintage. Founded in Vikram Samvat 1998. That translates to 1941.

Hemant’s grandfather Mohanlal Jalan got the temple built in keeping with the wishes of his father and Hemant’s great-grandfather, Soorajmull Jalan. “He had instructed that a trust should be formed to run the temple and left Rs 5 lakh for it,” Hemant said.

The G+6 building, named Seth Soorajmull Jalan Smriti Bhawan, is all lit up. Possibly for the January 22 consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The marble-clad interiors of the ground-floor temple look spic and span. The friezes on the wall depicting various scenes from the Ramayana are freshly painted. New chandeliers hang in front of the sanctum sanctorum. The lotus stained glass panel is all cleaned up.

“We will have bhajan by Omkar Dadarkar from the morning. Then we will (watch the) live-streaming of the Ayodhya event from 11.30am. There will be a special aarti and prashad at 12.29pm. Everything will finish by 1pm,” Hemant said.

The regular devotees can hardly wait. A diminutive Vijaylakshmi Jha, 80, who came for her regular evening pranam at the temple on Friday, said: “My dewar, jethani (brother-in-law and sister-in-law) are in Ayodhya for the temple inauguration. Only I couldn’t go.”

Why? She looked sprightly and fit and did a shashtanga pranam (lay prostrate) before Lord Ram.

“My sons didn’t allow me to go,” said the one-time resident of Janakpur village in Bihar. She said the village was named after Sita’s father, Raja Janak. She is planning a visit to Ayodhya in May.

Bijaykumar Churimal, who migrated to Calcutta from Rajasthan 40 years ago, plans to go even earlier, in March.

“Abhi to kuchh bhi nahi hoga. March tak sab thik thak ho jayega. Tab jana hai (Nothing is happening yet. Everything will be in place by March. Then I shall go),” he said.

His brother Sajjan Kumar is a regular to the evening aarti at the CR Avenue temple.

“He came even during the lockdown,” said the presiding priest, who claimed the temple witnessed a footfall of 1,000 each day. “After Covid, the number has gone up.”

Students of the Seth Soorajmull Jalan Balika Vidyalaya do a cursory pranam at the Ram Durbar that has idols of Ram, Lakshman, Sita and Hanuman.

Their school gets over at 5pm, right when the temple opens for the evening aarti.

“My great-grandfather also wanted a girls’ school built. He saw four girls reading under a gaslight by the street. He took them inside his house. In his time, he had wanted to teach girls. Today, Modiji is stressing ‘Beti Padhao’,” Hemant said.

The school, affiliated with the state board, has 2,100 children of whom 30 per cent are Muslim, Hemant said.

“They too say their prayers in front of Ramji. There is no compulsion. They do it on their own,” he said, stressing his family’s secular credentials. Many ex-students of the school, too, are regular visitors to the temple.

A Bengali family from Dumdum, a young couple from Sovabazar, two sisters from Beadon Street — there is a steady stream on Friday evening.