The full back-page ad in mainline papers today says it is the largest shopping mall of India. A small asterisk next to the announcement leads you to the bottom corner to the collection of 3 words, ‘In Eastern India’.
You may dislike my piquing over small things, but such is the imperatives of the day that you cannot take small lines lightly. So there you’re. The South City Mall that covers a cumulative area of a million square feet is the largest in eastern India.
It ought to have come to life early last year, but then such announcements are for the digestion of gullible. Now that it is opening today, hopes are rising that it will soon turn out as ‘the destination’ in much of south Kolkata. And why not?
The mall has 6 plexes, 6 anchors, a large food court, and multi-level parking for 1300 cars. Between the 4, South City Mall meets the biggest needs and the biggest worry – that of parking – with equal aplomb. But there are other worries – some bigger than the mall’s biggest.
For example, take the case of traffic snarl that will inevitably happen on the Prince Anwar Shah Road at both the Golf Green and the Jadavpur PS junctions. Sometime last year, there were talks of the mall developers wanting to build flyovers to ease traffic congestions. What has happened since is not known.
The array of shops in the mall has the potential of luring the majority of shoppers south of Gol Park and up to Garia. For people in Dhakuria, Selimpur and indeed Jodhpur Park, the best address to float around will be the South City Mall.
As for single screens like Navina and Menoka, one feels sorry for them. They will likely extinct sooner than later. Priya will last longer if only for its location and superb positioning. The only difference that goes in favor of standalone screens is the relatively cheaper cost of entry.
It’s an irony that the South City Mall brings along a touch of sophistry at a time when the city suffers the ignominy caused by the carnage from fire in some illegally built market complex at Burrabazar.
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