COIMBATORE, JUNE 4: Having money and time and don’t know where to go? Welcome to Oppanakara Street, Pettai. Stretching from Ukkadam to Sukrawarpet, this street offers anything to everything – from samosas to diamonds.

The Koniamman temple car passes through the street during the annual festival as does the Lord Jagannath’s car. It is here the devout Muslims offer their prayers in the Athar Jamma Masjid. The Athi Vinayakar temple at the Sukrawarpet corner always wears a festive look.

Earlier called as ‘Oppanavaaru Veedhi’ during the Vijayanagara rule, as the tax collector resided here, this stretch now houses a large number of jewellery and textile showrooms – Lalithaas, Thanga Mayil, Ganapathy, Saravana Stores, Chennai Silks – to name a few.

A number of eateries including Ranjitha Vilas, Iranis, Needos, Central Biriyani House and India Coffee House cater to the needs of people round the clock which belongs to the past.

The area where crores of money exchanges several hands has many banks too. Home Guards man the road to maintain calm.

The automatic car park adjacent to the Chennai Silk showroom is the first of its kind in the city. Samsosa and tea vendors, watch repairers and small time shop keepers do brisk business all through the year.

There are a number of stories with regard to the name ‘Oppanaikara’. One such story is that the road offers a lot of things for Oppanai (decking up for the occasion) and hence the name, another says it was an area of the rich (panakara veedhi).

Whether panakara veedhi or oppanai veedhi this area now plays a dominant role in trade.