Bangalore:
Thousands of people from the North-East gave up their jobs in south Indian cities to head home, feeling that it was the safe thing to do. And while this has disrupted so many individual lives, the departure of so many people has affected the cities in which they lived as well.
Many restaurants in Bangalore have simply shut down - after many waiters and cooks from the North-East - and neighbouring Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan - having given up their jobs to go home. The shortage of staff has resulted in closed doors and downed shutters.
Khemu, one of the people who chose to stay in Bangalore and continue his work in Sukh Sagar, says the neighbouring restaurant had been shut for days.
"There are no people there to work. They have all gone back home because they are afraid," he told NDTV.
And it's not just the restaurant trade that is bearing the brunt of the baseless rumours. Many people from the North-East work in beauty parlours, and many of these employees felt it safer to leave.
Nirmal, who owns two beauty parlours in Bangalore's Austin Town and Koramangala, has had to shut one of the parlours after the young women he employed chose to leave the city. He has kept the Koramangala parlour open, although three out of the six employees there have left.
Nirmal said "Because of these unnecessary rumours and because of few rumour mongers we are suffering, especially beauty parlour segment, we have suffered a lot."
While the thousands of North-Eastern students in the city had the support system of college authorities and classmates, most of those crowding onto the special trains were workers. Colleges had invited students to stay in the college premises if they felt unsafe. Lecturers had opened their homes to their students, but workers would have felt more vulnerable without such a support system.
One man, working in a private company, who boarded one of the special trains that headed out Bangalore to Guwahati last week, said he did feel unsafe. But he did say he hoped to be back. "If things become calmer we will definitely come back, because we are Indians. This is India."
Lakshana, a student of St Joseph's college in the city spoke for many when she said of the workers from the North-East, "We want them to feel secure as much as students here do... I on behalf of all my colleagues and friends here want them to know we are all here for you."
And while thousands did leave on those special trains, the majority of those studying and working in Bangalore chose to stay right where they were. Khemu himself had seen dozens of fellow waiters leave, and he said he was alone right now, but he was going nowhere.
"I am not leaving now - I am not afraid," he said.
The police had over 17,000 staff on the roads of Bangalore to keep the peace during Eid. The home minister made visits to the railway station and toured the city on Sunday night to spread a sense of reassurance - that security was present and visible. The chief minister had met North-Eastern representatives and urged members of the community to stay promising them that Karnataka was safe for them. Muslim groups had met members of the North-Eastern community in a spirit of friendship.
With assurances from the police, the government and from civil society, it is hoped that the thousands of workers who left Bangalore will soon feel confident enough to head back again to the city where they were earning their living. The city is certainly missing them.