Cops keep an eye on the crowd on Park Street

An 80-year-old man in a wheelchair to a two-year-old in a pram, Park Street was the place to be for everyone on Wednesday.

Across geographical, social and religious barriers, revellers kept descending on the road as the day progressed. The road was blocked for traffic around 4.30pm.

The crowd kept surging from early evening. Around 6pm, Park Street looked like a sea of heads. At 8pm, when the crowd was at its peak, not one inch of the road was visible from a vantage point.

Some waited for hours for the customary Christmas lunch at their favourite restaurants. Many others came to just soak in the spirit and walk the full stretch of the road, taking pictures and buying headgears. Some others arrived late in the evening and after a round of the road, headed to a nightclub.

Among the tens of thousands of revellers were some who made their Park Street debut on Christmas on Wednesday. Sagnik Sarkar, all of two years, sized up everything around while sitting in a pram that his father, mother and elder sister took turns in pushing. “We could not come to Park Street on Christmas last year because he was too small. We were not sure this year as well because it gets too crowded but he has been enjoying so far,” said Sudipto, a New Town resident who works with an IT major, wife Debashree and daughter Swastika by his side.

Long queues were seen outside restaurants and pubs since afternoon. At 3.30pm, at least 30 people were waiting outside Peter Cat. It would take at least two hours to get a table inside, an employee of the restaurant told a woman who had just arrived.

A large group stepped out of the restaurant a little before 4pm. The star attraction of the group was an 80-year-old wheelchair-bound man, P.N. Bhaduri. A former IAS officer, Bhaduri came to Park Street for Christmas lunch after several years. “There are so many memories of this place,” he said.

Masud Hasan, a businessman from Dhaka, is a frequent visitor to Calcutta but was spending Christmas here for the first time. His wife and daughter accompanied him this time. “The Christmas carnival in Calcutta has become famous in Bangladesh. We had planned for this in advance,” said his wife, Fahmida Akhtar.

Santa cap with LED lights was the most popular accessory, seen on every third person. The innovative revellers opted for bunny and reindeer hair bands and oversized coloured glasses. Many groups carried selfie sticks and Christmas trees were the favourite selfie spots. Several amateur photographers, armed with digital SLR cameras, were on the prowl for ‘candid shots’.

A heavy contingent of cops, led by senior officers, kept an eye on the crowd. A group of women officers on two-wheelers — members of Winners, an all-women team of the police to nab harassers — rode past Park Street around 4.15pm, minutes before the road was closed to vehicular traffic. Members of the special combat force were deputed on more than 10 watchtowers on and around Park Street.

For three friends, Christmas was a reunion. Antara Ghosh, Indrani Banerjee and Sulipi Biswas, friends from their college days in the early 90s, were catching up after a decade. “We are just soaking in the festive spirit. There is no plan as such. We might drop in for dinner somewhere,” said Biswas, a commerce teacher at Patha Bhavan.

“Christmas cuts across barriers like Durga Puja, not excluding anyone,” said Banerjee, a corporate filmmaker who shuffles between Calcutta and Mumbai.

The revelry spilled out of Park Street and reached the area around the St Paul’s Cathedral and Victoria Memorial. The demand for horse carriages outside Victoria was high. Alipore zoo brimmed with visitors throughput the day. An official put the number of visitors at over 68,000. Eco Park saw over 77,000 visitors throughout the day.