Durga Puja is barely a month away but shopping is yet to take off as the city is protesting the rape and murder of a 31-year-old junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

On Sunday, the shopping hubs were nowhere near as crowded as they used to be in the run-up to the festive season.

Many shoppers Metro spoke to said the gruesome incident had left them too shaken to be able to indulge in festive revelry. Many of them curtailed their shopping bucket.

Avijit Sarkar, a doctor, had come to South City Mall with his wife, Soumyasree, from Sonarpur, on the southern fringes of Calcutta.

“We will not buy new clothes for ourselves this Puja. Our daughter, who is in Class VII, has clearly said she doesn’t want anything. We have only bought something for the elders,” said Sarkar, who works at a
rural hospital in West Midnapore.

The mall was busy but not as crowded as it would be a month before Puja. The stores had shoppers and there was a queue at the billing counters but missing was the infectious frenzy that a pre-Puja Sunday is synonymous with.

“This Sunday has seen 10-15 per cent growth in business compared to last Sunday,” said Man Mohan Bagree, vice-president, South City group.

Acropolis Mall and Quest Mall were also not as bustling as they would be this time of the year.

“There is some movement as Puja is just a month away. But people are wary of coming out to shop because of the protests,” said a sales executive at a retail chain at Quest Mall.

Many Gariahat stores were deserted on Sunday afternoon. Unthinkable, usually, but not now. Thousands of people walked from Gariahat to Rashbehari Avenue on Sunday evening demanding justice for the RG Kar victim.

Many retailers in empty stores watched the rally. They expressed solidarity with the cause but the concern over mounting losses was writ large on their faces.

“What do I say? I want the parents of the doctor to get justice. But I am also worried about the plunge in business,” said Suman Sadhukhan, one of the two employees at a footwear store near the Gariahat intersection.

“Usually, we sell more than 40 pairs on a Sunday a month before Puja. Today, we are yet to make the first sale of the day,” he said around 5.30pm.