Praveen Faizal, the owner of the popular Surabhi Dhaba on SP Verma Road, is nearing depression these days and Nitish Kumar's prohibition is to blame for it.

"All I can do is remember the old days and smile," said 27-year-old Faizal, unhappy with the drop in sale of his best dishes after the chief minister enforced total prohibition on Bihar exactly a week ago. "None of our non-vegetarian starters and tandoor dishes - our best-selling items before total prohibition - is being sold now. Earlier, my cellphone would keep ringing in the evening with home delivery calls for dry non-vegetarian dishes customers could enjoy with a drink."

The slump in business of Faizal and others like him is also because of Navratri that started last Friday. Residents who observe the nine-day rituals abstain from non-vegetarian food. Chicken sales are usually low at this time only to pick up later, but now Faizal is not too upbeat.

"If conditions are tough now, I don't know about the future. I'm slowly going into depression. I don't know what to do to improve sales," he said.

The poultry shopowners are equally upset.

"I would sell more than 80kg chicken to at least to four eating joints in Patna every day. Most of them would ask me to chop up the bird in small pieces fit for starters," 45-year-old Mohammed Arif, who has a poultry store at New Market, said. Furious with Nitish for saying things like "if you must drink, do not come here (Bihar), Arif said: "How can a chief minister make such comments?"

"Orders from the hotels have dropped sharply, I am selling around 40kg chicken," he added. "After Navratri, it will be equally worse."

Faizal agreed to the low poultry orders. "On Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, we would order at least 30kg chicken but now we have cut it down by more than half," said Faizal. "Lunchtime is not too bad with customers ordering gravy dishes but evenings are a dry affairs with less orders for starters and tandoors."

Suresh Sharma, who owns a grocery store on Boring Road, said: "How can one have drinks without a chicken item? Almost everyday, I used to buy one portion of dry chilly chicken from the nearby Janta Hotel as an accompaniment to my drink. Now, with no liquor in sight, it seems useless and a waste of money."

It's a bumpy ride for 18-year-old Chinese joint, Mings Chimneys. "Right now, business is expectedly down for Navratri but prohibition is not going to help matters later too," said a representative of the restaurant. "The sale of chicken lollypop, chilly chicken dry or semi gravy, chicken Manchurian and tandoor items will definitely fall."

Fraser Road's popular takeaway joint Tandoor Hut is in another quandary.

Manager Rajeev Sinha said: "We can see a continuous phase of bumpy rides ahead. We had started construction of a small dining place for the customers. We don't know how to keep functioning if business turns any worse. We might have to plead the government to relax prohibition a bit."