An ocean of calm a day after the massacre

Business, it appears, is back to usual at the New Shanthi Sagar, despite three men being hacked to death just the previous night.

While the typical rush associated with the hotel was not to be seen, the hotel did see a fair amount of customers. In-charge manager Arun said that the number of customers may have dipped by only 10 pc.

Business as usual

“We are seeing better than expected business especially considering the fact that the news has been all over TV and the papers,” he said.

As Rahman Karim smacks his lips after devouring the sumptuous thaali at the New Shanthi Sagar, it has only been just 15 hours since the incident at the very same building. A regular patron of the Malleswaram joint, he was relieved to find that his Sunday lunch was not shelved due to the ghastly triple murder that rocked the city on Saturday night.

“The first thing that I did after seeing the news report was to call up and ask if the hotel was still open or not,” Karim said.

Changing times

For many, the very fact that Malleswaram has moved on so quickly has come as surprising. Mithila B, a resident of Malleswaram, explains: 

“Since the late 90s there has been an increasing number of migrations from other states, and the character of the locality has changed gradually. Malls have come up, Italian cafes and speciality restaurants have sprouted at every corner, and so this indifference is a consequence of such a culture”.

However, it was not all hunky dory at the hotel. One passerby stopped near the hotel and asked a stationed policeman why the hotel was not shut down.

“How can people still go in as if nothing has happened”, she asked. A birthday party scheduled for Sunday at the party hall where the murder took place was cancelled.