It was only 6pm on Saturday but police were already struggling to restrict the crowd at the Park Street-Chowringhee crossing.
Cars could not get past the zebra crossing though the signal had turned green. The crowd had spilled over onto the road and hundreds of people were clicking pictures of the dressed-up Park Street. Despite efforts by several police officers, the whole crowd could not move to the pavement and some of it was still on the edge of the road while cars started to move again.
As the evening stretched into night, the crowd only thickened.
At 7.30pm, a queue of vehicles had reached the Colootala crossing on CR Avenue because cars could barely enter Park Street. The police had to divert vehicles and stop them from heading towards New Market or Park Street.
The crowd in front of Allen Park and (right) the lit up Park Street flyover on Saturday
After two years of Covid when Christmas celebrations were muted, the Christmas Eve festivities were back this time. “We couldn’t come to Park Street during Christmas the past two years. We last came in 2019 but our son did not come then. We wanted to bring him to see the celebrations on Park Street this time,”said Sanjib Mahato, a resident of Barrackpore, who came with wife Mousumi and son Rupesh.
Sanjib kept clicking pictures of his son, donning a Santa Claus cap, in several places on Park Street.
Two friends who came from different parts of the city said they had planned to have a quick tour but could get out of Park Street only after more than hour. “We entered Park Street around 4.50pm thinking that we will come out within 15-20 minutes. When we finally came out after going till Allen Park, it was 6pm,” said one of them.
The space near Allen Park — which was closed — had a sea of red-capped heads as many stood in front of a brightly lit Christmas tree outside the park.
There were long queues outside all restaurants through the day. Anand Puri, owner of Trincas said the restaurant remained full from about 1pm. “All restaurants had queues outside,” he said.
“It appears like the turnout is better than last year. Both Mocambo and Peter Cat were full since quarter past eleven. Peter Hu has been full since noon,” said Nitin Kothari, owner of Mocambo, Peter Cat and Peter Hu.
Many visitors picked up Christmas accessories — Santa Claus’ reindeer, red caps and headbands with white and red flowers — from hawkers.
The police had deployed 2,200 personnel, including many senior officers, in and around Park Street. A watch tower had been built at the Park Street-Chowringhee crossing. There was police personnel on the terrace of several tall buildings along Park Street, keeping a watch.
Revellers at the Park Street-Chowringhee crossing around 6pm Picture by Pradip Sanyal
As the crowd thickened, the movement of cars slowed down and sometimes came to a standstill. A police officer said that all south-bound traffic on CR Avenue was diverted via BB Ganguly Street, Lalbazar Street and Old Court House Street to enter Maidan. “If one could avoid the Park Street crossing, there was no snarl,” said the police officer.
The police did not stop entry of vehicles on Park Street till late on Saturday, something that would most likely be done on Sunday. “We do not stop traffic on Park Street on Christmas Eve, but traffic movement is stopped on Christmas when the turnout is more,” said the officer.