From top : Ripon Street, Park Circus seven-point crossing, Bridge No. 4 and Padmapukur. Pictures by Amit Datta

Seven days ago, pockets of south Calcutta had witnessed the worst street violence that the city can remember. Throughout November 21, 12,000 to 15,000 people marched on the road, threw missiles at police, torched at least 17 vehicles and kept thousands of children captive in schools. Curfew had to be imposed at night to bring the situation under control. On Wednesday, Metro revisited the four hotspots of the riot.

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Ripon Street, 10.30am

Friendly banter is back on the streets, presenting a face of the area that is radically different from the one last week. This was the epicentre of the violence on November 21, when 10 hours of mayhem had spread to Beniapukur Road and AJC Bose Road.

Most schools had declared a holiday last Thursday. “Some of the children were jittery on Friday, but they are fine now,” says Sarmistha Sengupta, a biology teacher at St Augustine’s Day School, while escorting a group of students back to school from the Maidan, the venue of the school sports meet.

Shakeel Khan, whose Medi-plus Doctor’s Chamber stands close to the spot from where a mob had pelted missiles at policemen, says: “I was able to down shutters in the nick of time. But now there’s nothing to worry about.”

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Park Circus seven-point crossing, 11am

The violence had spread quickly to this area. Some residents went on the rampage around 11am, smashing the windshields of cars and buses, and hurling bricks at policemen.

A week later, there’s no trace of violence on the road. College students stand around and chat as the usual chaos prevails on the carriageway.

“Things are normal,” says Murtaza Hussain, who has been selling posters on a Park Circus pavement for 20 years.

Fruit-seller Mohammad Salauddin says: “There is no tension because Taslima Nasreen has left the state. Phir aayegee to phir hoga (If she comes back, there will be trouble again).”

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Padmapukur, 11.30am

Here, too, the rioters had vented ire on private and public vehicles despite the police and RAF firing teargas shells at them. And like the other areas, Padmapukur has emerged out of crisis.

“The rioters got what they wanted. Why should there be trouble?” asks Bimal Rajvanshi, who sells green coconuts on CIT Road, near the Sundari Mohan Avenue crossing. His ware was looted by the mob.

Cars parked on the main road belonging to Tops Security were damaged by the rioters. “There is no tension now. But that doesn’t help much. The damage is done,” says A.J. Smith, the manager (administration) of the company.

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No. 4 Bridge, noon

Violence in the area was fuelled mainly by rumours that people had been killed on Ripon Street in police firing. The result: several cars were set on fire.

“Trouble started here suddenly and things soon got out of hand. The police were not able to control the mob,” says Subhas, a teenager who runs a tea stall near the bridge.

There are marks on the bridge where the vehicles were burnt. “Nobody stops to look at those marks now,” says Subhas.