• “I have lived across India but have not seen any other street decorated so much on Christmas Eve,” said a 69-year-old.
• “I love the lights, the cake shops and the stalls on the footpath,” said an eight-year-old.

Park Street was bustling with people out to soak in the spirit of Christmas Eve. With the footpaths already taken over, a pedestrian channel carved out of the road was teeming with revellers.

A drizzle from around 8.15pm was a bit of a spoiler.

Many families with kids and those who came by public transport were seen rushing towards the Metro station or the bus stop after the rain started. “It was a drizzle but many feared that the rain would intensify,” said a police officer on Park Street.

The lights and the sound of people talking in a celebratory tone had transformed Park Street in the evening, noticeably different from what the road was till noon when vehicles were mostly ferrying people to work.

To many, visiting Park Street during the Christmas-New Year period is an annual ritual. Manika Dutta, 65, and Malay Kumar Dutta, 69, were among them.

Malay, a retired executive of Indian Oil, has worked across the country. “I have not seen any other street with so much lights and such moods on Christmas Eve and Christmas. This is what draws us to Park Street,” he said.

The couple used to frequent Park Street around Christmas in their younger days. “There were lights then but not on this scale,” he said.

Class III student Shreya S. Abhishek was fascinated by what she saw. It was her first visit. Shreya’s parents took her to Park Street as the family is on a visit to Calcutta.

“I love the lights. I have not seen something like this before. I also loved my visit to Flurys,” said the eight-year-old from Assam.

Her parents said Shreya was asking them to stop in front of almost everything that was being sold along Park Street. There were stalls selling Christmas goodies such as reindeer caps, red hats and Santa Claus look-alikes.

“The crowd started swelling around 6pm. The footpaths were chock-a-block with revellers and the pedestrian channels we made with guardrails were also getting filled with people,” said a police officer.

The commissioner of Kolkata Police, Manoj Verma, visited Park Street on Tuesday evening.

“We have more than the usual police deployment today. We will review any gaps and bridge them before tomorrow when there will be a larger police deployment on Park Street and also in places around clubs, restaurants, markets,” Verma said.

Verma said that apart from cops in uniform, there will be personnel in plainclothes.

“Park Street will be closed to traffic for some time, expectedly between 5pm and 9pm, on Wednesday,” he said.

An officer in the traffic department of Kolkata Police said every year the crowd usually increases around 5pm on Christmas and it becomes impossible to contain the revellers on the footpaths. That is when the road is closed to traffic and people are allowed to walk on the road.

“The crowd thins by 9pm and the road is again opened for vehicles,” the officer said.