Ayodhya, Sept. 23: The postponement of the Babri Masjid verdict has meant another week of anxiety for Ayodhya’s residents.

Another week of heavy police presence that has curtailed normal life and another week of poor business with tourists thinking twice before visiting a potential trouble spot.

Another week of mischief-mongering, too.

Today, teenaged boys peddled VCDs and booklets that contain poorly morphed photographs and footage. “These are illegal. You will not get it in the shops. I will sell two VCDs to you for Rs 100,” said one boy who eventually brought the price down to Rs 10 without disclosing if any organisation is bearing the subsidy.

Another person said members of the minority community had fled Ayodhya, a claim that turned out to be untrue soon enough.

Shopkeepers and some priests are worried after the postponement.

“Unlike some VHP-supported temples, most other temples survive on donations from devotees who visit the town. It is the tourist season. But the streets are deserted because people anticipate trouble,” said Loknath Pandey, a priest at Dashrath ki Gaddi.

Several teenagers milled around. “We guide the devotees to the various temples here and earn our living. This phase has been bad for business,” said 14-year-old Prabhakar.

Outside Hanumangarhi in Hardwari Bazaar, a woman implored devotees to buy flowers from her shop.

Zohra Begum said her father moved from Varanasi 40 years back and started selling religious knick-knack to devotees. She inherited the shop from him. “There will be no trouble as long as the government keeps outsiders out,” she said.

Zohra denied that any Muslim had left Ayodhya. “There aren’t very many of us here. There are more in (nearby) Faizabad. But where can we go? We live here. We did not leave even during the height of the trouble in 1992, why leave now?”

Vijay Kumar Pandey, a 48-year-old priest at Ram ki Rajgaddi temple, said: “Let the court give whatever decision it deems fit. There are still avenues open for redress but why delay?”

“I was born and brought up in Ayodhya. There were opportunities to solve this peacefully but people from outside did not want to,” he added.