By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 22: With the Christmas season settling in, in almost every nook and corner of Shillong, general people, tourists and local businesses of the city are having their moment and enjoying the buzz and rush of the year’s most awaited time.
The lights are up in every neighbourhood of the city, tourists from far and near are already here with their itineraries and the market places of Shillong is experiencing activity like never before. But while the bright festivities are carried out in full swing, the intolerable traffic jam in the main routes of Shillong has been giving a hard time to the people. Indeed, the slow crawling of vehicles, inch by inch, especially in the rush hours of the day, has been quite the concern for office-goers, shoppers and tourists of the city.
In the past few days, with the busy areas of the city like Laitumkhrah, Iewduh and Police Bazar getting even busier, the problem of traffic jam has gone over the roof, making even small movements difficult for people.
As such, the regulation of traffic jam in the upcoming holidays is going to be worth noting.
On a different and rather refreshing note, the bakeries, cloth, shoe and apparel stores of the city’s markets have reported remarkable sales on account of Christmas and New Year. Flooded with eager customers, businesses and local stores have even mentioned working overtime to meet the demands of shoppers. Although many shop owners have admitted facing low business due to the reign of online shopping, sales have been quoted to increase considerably in the past one week. Going by this trend, they are hopeful that things are only going to improve further in the next two days with the advent of tourists looking forward to a festive time in Shillong.
Coming to the hospitality industry, even the hotels and resorts in the city have reported being booked to its full capacity as they wait to welcome fully vaccinated tourists. The hoteliers state that the busy activity in the guest houses, hotels and rental places of the city are going to be upkept until New Year’s day, especially after Wednesday’s news of hailstones and ‘snowfall’ did the rounds in media.
Nevertheless, the capital city is now at its absolute best with lights illuminating the churches, buildings, government offices, commercial centres and residences, making for a glorious site for onlookers. In such a celebratory mood and environment, Christmas and New Year are going to be, from what it looks like, an unmissable affair in the cold December of 2021.