Here is one city which still sleeps when the sun is high over the head. Even the global slowdown has not hindered the traders, workers, shopkeepers and even some corporate houses based in Rajkot to take their afternoon.
Traders here, since ages, down their shutters from 12 pm to 4 pm and re-open it in the evening, without anyone complaining. A walk down the posh Amin Marg or its adjacent 150 feet ring road which houses malls and retail outlets and you will find the streets wrapped up in silence.
And it’s not that no one has ever tried to give a wake up call to change this 200 year old habit. Parag Tejura, president of Saurashtra Vepar Udyog Mahamandal who started a movement to wake up the Rajkot residents, had to give up his campaign after 100 days.
It was quite a bad experience, he said without elaborating further. “The afternoon nap hurts business in Rajkot in many ways with engineering and manufacturing business being the worst hit,” Tejura says.
Rajkot, with a population of 15 lakh is also considered to be a hub for financial and bullion trading. Traders from many other cities avoid doing business in Rajkot as the residents here ‘sleep’ on business when it’s crucial hours to take decisions, he added. Even some corporate houses in Rajkot are finding it tough to get people to work during these hours.
According to Kaushal Rathod of Aegis Infoware, “No one is in the mood to do any business at noon time. Even if we go to meet people they would offer tea or even lunch but will not talk business.”
Many businessmen point that the traditional businesses in Rajkot are a sharp contrast to Reliance Industries' Jamnagar refineries that function round the clock.
President of Rajkot Chamber of Commerce and Industries Hiteshbhai Bagdai explained said, “Rajkot is a colonised city where most of the people have come from villages, hence this culture of afternoon siesta has been developed.” Retail business has been the worst affected in Rajkot due to this habit, he added.
