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Circumstances change. Governments change. So do famous addresses. Elections often usher such changes.
The results of the J&K assembly poll have actually altered traffic patterns in Srinagar.
Earlier, all roads in Srinagar led to Gupkar Road. Located a few miles from the city centre in the lap of the Zabarwan hills, it is home to outgoing chief minister Farooq Abdullah, his son and National Conference president Omar Abdullah and some ministers like Ali Mohammed Sagar.
The area also houses some top bureaucrats and police officers.
This led to it being one of the most well-protected areas in the Kashmir valley. Drop gates, sandbag bunkers, security guards and policemen were all over the place.
"Over 400 people, scores of bureaucrats and political workers would come here everyday," said a policeman, manning one of the drop-gates that separated the Abdullahs from the populace.
After their names were flashed to higher-ups in the security apparatus, visitors were told to produce identity cards, frisked and then made to wait for a call from the chief minister's staff before they could enter the 'fortress' the Abdullahs lived in.
However, several people were disenchanted with the Abdullahs' inaccessibility. "We would not be allowed to meet Farooq Abdullah, though he is our MLA," complained Shabir Ahmad, a youth from Ganderbal constituency.
Although, the day after the results were out, sympathisers and bureaucrats did visit the place to commiserate with the Abdullahs, by Saturday only security personnel were to be seen.
"There is no one here. Farooq sahib has left for some place. Omar sahib too has left along with his family," a security personnel told rediff.com.
The centre of power has shifted.
Drive a few kilometers past the Badami Bagh cantonment area, which houses the army headquarters in the valley, and you will come across celebrations at the not-so-well-known Nowgam locality.
A few vehicles of security forces, some security personnel, and a horde of commoners are seen outside a double storeyed house.
No identity cards, a light frisking by security guards and you can walk into the house of People's Democratic Party chief Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
The lawn is strewn with empty tea cups and party supporters laze around basking under the autumn sun. Some men carrying samovars - copper thermos flasks with an inbuilt ember container - were moving around offering tea to visitors.
The mood is cheerful. The party's hero Qazi Mohammed Afzal, who defeated NC president Omar Abdullah at Ganderbal, is chatting with party colleagues.
Sayeed is in Delhi for talks with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on government formation. His jubilant daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, walks in and out of the house in between meeting visitors.
"I have come to congratulate Mehboobaji and remind her of her promises," said Mushtaq Ahmad, an unemployed graduate from her constituency Pahalgam in south Kashmir.
Though he hopes the PDP would do something for people like him, he seemed wary of the ways of politicians. "At the moment, we are welcome here. But who knows what will happen once they form the government," was how he put it.
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