With over 70 days of lockdown coming to an end and many sectors opening up in the city, Bengaluru on Monday began to embrace the “new normal”.
On June 8th, the first phase of Unlocking began in the country as well as the state. The religious places were given a thumbs up to reopen. Contrary to the popular opinion, people flocked places of worship on Monday as a huge queue was seen in the famous temple of Basavanagudi, the bull temple. Socially distanced markers were made, people were thermally screened and sanitizers were kept at the entrance. Shambhavi, a devotee of the Someshwar temple that also reopened on Monday, said,
“Now I feel a kind of normalcy has returned as temples and hotels are open. I am a regular to Someshwara temple but had not been to the temple for over two months as it was closed. It was a serene experience visiting the temple.”
Malls And Restaurants Saw Low Footfalls
Another big part of the Unlock phase is the reopening of the shopping malls. The malls too opened up with strict measures in place but the number of visitors on day one was minimal. The majority of the visitors who paid a visit to the shopping malls were visiting the supermarket. A resident of Yelhanka, Shashikumar, visited the RMZ Galleria Mall and said,
“Prior to lockdown, I used to come with family members for shopping. On the first day of opening the mail, I came alone for household shopping. Staff insisted people maintain social distancing during the time of purchase.”
One of the employees working in one of the shops said,
“For close to three months malls were closed. We were given instructions by the management to maintain social distancing during the shopping. On the first day, the number of visitors was less and we are hoping that gradually it will pick up.”
Restaurants too opened up with precautions of social distancing, thermal scanning, and sanitizers. However, few hotels didn’t even see a single customer in the morning. The customers gradually increased over the course of the day and the owners are hoping for the same in the coming days.
Source: The Hindu
