Bad for business

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the student strikes in the city consistently change colours to bloody fights on the streets, the sting is being felt not just by the students and the police. The rows of shops on the either side of the stretch from the main battleground University College to the Martyrs’ Square, Palayam, have been having dull business ever since the warfare began. This is how the tale goes, according to a shopkeeper. In the morning of every strike, the students line up, first in front of the college with flags held high and then inside the college, spread out, with stones hidden behind. As tension builds up, police land in posse.The slogans slowly gain pitch and the students turn mutinous. A stone is hurled out of nowhere; another one follows. That is the sign for the shopkeepers. Shutters are pulled down in a haste. If customers are inside, business is spared and they are asked to leave. By this time the war outside should have begun and proceeded to the typical climax. It goes on for some 2-3 hours and the timespan amounts to losses worth thousands for the shopkeepers along this stretch.Nagendran, the owner of a footwear shop, says that the sales have been really miserable for the last few days. "When the strike turns violent, we have no other way but to close the shops. We may lose some peak hours of sale. But at least we will be spared of the damage to our shops that these fights could result,’’ he says.Two years back, a shopkeeper had to spend over Rs 40,000 out of his pocket to replace a glass door that had been broken in a strike. It is for this reason that these men prefer to stay inside the shops during violent strikes. Often, during the police backlash, the Saphalyam complex is the preferred hideout of students. "Here, it is not easy to catch them. Hence, students naturally run into our shops. The other day, I had to keep my customers shut inside the shop to keep them safe. They had to be here till calm was restored outside. Nobody prefers shopping amid such chaos,’’ says Faizal, another shopowner.Once police sense signs of violence, even the buses are redirected, which means additional losses for the shopkeepers. They say that when they conduct business worth Rs 10,000 on a normal day, the amount dips to Rs 2000 or Rs 3,000 on strike days. ‘’Imagine if such losses recur day after day. We are not one of those high profile businessmen who will be least affected by such losses. We have to pay rent and  earn our living. All these have to come from our sales only,’’ says Faizal.Interestingly, City Express could also spot some shopkeepers who were a bit sympathetic to the students. ‘’It is true that our business is being affected. But on any other day, these students are our major customers. We can’t actually take a stand against them simply because we have to bear losses for two-three days,’’ says a shopkeeper.