GUWAHATI, March 30 � Not often would you see elections taking a backseat in the capital city of a State which is going to the polls in less than a week�s time.
It happened in Guwahati today as India took on archrivals Parkisan in Mohali in a World Cup semifinal clash.
Vehicles virtually disappeared from the otherwise busy streets of Guwahati, and market places wore a deserted look as people, young and old alike, preferred to stay indoors to enjoy the mouth-watering clash of the titans.
Not just the common man, even the political quarters also could not resist the temptation. Headquarters of political parties hardly witnessed any activity and even timings of political meetings had to be altered fearing low attendance of journalists and the party workers.
As it happens in case of a bandh call, most of the Government offices witnessed thin attendance and those present were mostly spotted glued to the TV screens, while many of the private sector offices declared half-holiday in view of the day-night encounter.
Prior to the match though, young crowd took out processions through the city roads cheering for India and in expectation of Sachin Tendulkar�s 100 international ton.
�The only place you will find a crowd is before the TV showrooms. Otherwise, Guwahati today was sans any buzz on the roads,� said Jupi Hazarika, who had predicted a century from master blaster Sachin Tendulkar and a win for the hosts.
While her first prediction did not materialised, the match was interestingly poised and the fate of the encounter hanged in balance till the filing of this report.
Vedant Agarwal, a resident of Tarun Nagar did not go for his tuitions due to the match.
Rekha Agarwal, mother of Vedant rues, �He is four-year old and does not understand anything except cartoons but his father and uncles are ardent fans of the game and there was no one to drop him to his tuition classes.�
Such was the hype for the match that even places like Fancy Bazar and Ganeshguri areas, two of the most buzzing areas in the city, hardly saw any customer.
�I opened my shop around 10 am and it is now 6 pm and you would not believe, not a single person passed by my shop, forget about any sale. On any other usual day, I would have attracted at least 20 to 30 customers,� said Ramesh Jain, a garment trader, who downed the shutters almost three hours before 10, his usual closing time.
