The Maidan in the heart of the city was the destination for thousands of winter revellers on Sunday as all public attractions in and around the city were shut as part of the restrictions to combat the surge in Covid cases.
Hawkers who sold their wares at other places in central Kolkata made it to the Maidan greens.
Covid norms were tossed into thin air by the revellers. Around half of them did not care for a face cover. Many others had the mask in the wrong place — hanging from their chins to safely tucked inside their pockets.
“Idhar corona nahi hai (Corona is not present here),” said a young man, sitting next to another on a platform under a tree, when the photographer of this newspaper asked them the reason for not wearing a mask.
Near the Fort William side of the Maidan, a cricket match was on, one of the many across the greens. A group of people who sat near the “third man boundary” did not bother to wear a mask.
“We have come to an open area to breathe fresh air. There is no point in wearing a mask here,” was the refrain this newspaper heard from multiple persons on the Maidan on Sunday.
The closure of the Victoria Memorial, Alipore zoo, Birla Planetarium and other public attractions in the heart of Kolkata prompted many hawkers in these pockets to shift base to the Maidan.
“The zoo was booming with visitors when the shutdown happened. I have been standing outside the zoo for close to 15 years now…. The business has gone down sharply. But something is still better than nothing,” said a phuchka-seller.
Sanjay Kumar, who sold ice creams outside Central Mall in Esplanade, moved to the Maidan on Sunday.
“Between Christmas and New Year, I sold stuff worth Rs 2,000 every day. That is something in winter. But since then, the numbers have been dismal. I now struggle to sell stuff worth Rs 250 per day,” said Kumar.
New Market was also brimming with people on Sunday. Social distancing seemed an alien concept but the bulk of the visitors were masked.
A large group of people stopped by the Victoria Memorial to take pictures. None wore a mask. The members were from Uttar Pradesh and “on a trip to Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal”.
“I have a mask in my pocket,” said a member of the group.