Sunday, October 30 2005 15:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: An uneasy calm lay over the popular Sarojini Nagar and Paharganj markets here today (Oct 30, 2005) as authorities got on with clearing the debris from the site of the explosions under heavy police deployment the morning after serial blasts ripped through the capital killing 61 people.

Coming to grips with the damage done by last evening's explosion, the shopkeepers decided to keep their shops open so that the forces behind the attack did not get the wrong message.

Shocked shopkeepers looked on haplessly as workers of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) cleared the debris strewn around while the police kept the area out of bounds for people.

Refusing to be cowed down by acts of terrorism, Ashok Randhawa, President of the Sarojini Nagar Market Traders Association said, "We are opening our shops. We don't want the terrorists to think that they have succeeded in scaring us."

A huge heap of charred clothes lay outside Arjun Kumar's shop, located just next to the site of the blast. Recalling the horrific blast, the most severe among the three last evening, he said, "As you can see, nothing is left. It was a terrible, terrible fire. Once it was doused, we saw bodies all around us."

"My whole shop was destroyed in the fire, but I am not even thinking about my losses. My heart goes out to the people who have lost their near and dear ones in the explosion," Kumar said.