A clear sky for much of Sunday propelled Kolkatans to flood the shopping hubs, making most of the second-last weekend before the Puja.
A spell of nagging showers came in the evening. But by then, the shoppers were already out in the streets.
The surge in the number of shoppers brought a smile on the faces of sellers — from the store manager of swanky retail outlets in malls to hawkers on streets.
Jaya Sarkar, a resident of Garia, forced husband Dibyendu to leave home early on Sunday. The couple, along with son Debaul, reached South City Mall and spent the next few hours shopping.
“We had planned to go out for shopping last Saturday, but could not because of the rain. Seeing a clear and sunny sky today, I was determined to step out,” said Jaya, who owns a gym in Garia’s Mahamayatala.
The Sarkars were not done when The Telegraph met them at the mall around 4.30pm.
The mall was bustling with people. The packed atrium, decked out in Puja decor, was the favourite spot to take pictures.
The store manager of an apparel-and-accessories retail chain said “two in three people” who walked into the store bought something.
Similar scenes played out at Acropolis and Forum Mall.
Almost every trial room had a queue and at the billing counter, the wait often lasted more than 20 minutes, said shoppers.
At Gariahat and New Market, there was not an inch of space on the pavements. Police and civic volunteers managed the crowd with boom barriers. Every time they were lifted, a sea of heads moved across the road.
The hawkers did not have time to talk as they were busy attending to shoppers. At every second stall, they bargained with shoppers.
In Gariahat, the showers started minutes after 5.30pm.
What started as a drizzle and was ignored by most pedestrians soon forced them to bring the umbrellas out or seek a shelter.
As it rained, Prabir Dey was standing with a clutch of bags under the Gariahat flyover, waiting for his wife and daughter.
“Most of the bags have my daughter’s stuff. Now, we will buy clothes for my wife,” said Dey, who lives in Dhakuria and owns a pharmacy in Picnic Garden.
Seeba Jahan, who hails from Jharkhand, was in Gariahat to buy saris.
“This is my first Puja in Kolkata. I have heard so much about the famed collection of saris in Gariahat. I came to see first hand,” said Jahan, who works at a private bank and stays in a rented accommodation in Bansdroni.
The sea of shoppers meant brisk business for the many food stalls dotting the shopping hubs. At a Gariahat stall famous for rolls, there was a crowd of at least 25 people around 6.30pm.
The rain did not last long. A Met official called Sunday’s showers localised. He ruled out heavy rain in Kolkata in the coming days.
A trough of low pressure links north Bengal and the north Bay of Bengal. Kolkata is in the influence zone of the trough. “Local clouds that took shape over Kolkata caused the rainfall,” said the Met official.
“In the coming days, one or two spells of rain are not ruled out in coastal areas, like East Midnapore, North and South 24-Parganas and Kolkata,” the official said.
But the showers are unlikely to be widespread and uniform, he said.
Around 6.45pm, the rain had stopped in Esplanade.
The police were struggling to manage simultaneously the movement of vehicles and the flow of pedestrians along JL Nehru Road.
Lindsay Street was so crowded that a man had his shirt torn as it brushed against the sharp edge of the bangle of a woman. “There is hardly any space to move,” the man said.