Covid protocols trashed as crowds throng Kolkata's Park Street to celebrate Christmas
It was surely not a ‘silent night’ on Christmas in Kolkata . Frenzy gripped Kolkata’s Park Street and the adjoining areas, as scores of people – most of them without masks-- gathered to celebrate Christmas. Restaurants, pubs and discotheques remained open way past midnight. Not just Christmas but the following day too saw large gatherings on the street with serpentine queues outside popular restaurants and street joints such as Mocambo, Peter Cat and Kusum Rolls. People of all age groups gathered singing, dancing and merrily posing for photographs on Park Street The restaurants were packed to capacity even as Kolkata reported its first Omicron case on Friday. Discotheques on Park Street including the popular Tantra drew crowds, who partied, drank and danced. Needless to say, Covid protocols sounded alien as the Trinamool Congress government relaxed norms for the Christmas-New Year period. One could even catch a glimpse of a poster thanking state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for a