BANGALORE: The hustle and bustle of the Sunday Bazaar, was far more subdued this Sunday. A fear that this might be the last Sunday for their trade, pervaded the minds of hawkers and traders.
West Division DCP B Shivakumar’s proposal to put a halt to the age-old Sunday Market was the reason for this fear.
The genesis of the Sunday Bazaar goes as far as 400 years to the times of Kempe Gowda, when this place comprised the old town of Bangalore.
However, in its present format, it is said to be 30-years-old. “We have been trading here for 20 years and about a lakh people come here every Sunday. We have no other earnings and we have no other place to trade,” said Fayaz Pasha, who has a stall of second-hand clothes here. Fayaz goes on a door-to-door hunt throughout the week, collecting old clothes in return for utensils.
Many like Fayaz are shocked at the new developments and are protesting it.
On Sundays, the Chickpet’s wholesale market transforms into a flea market, almost like a santhe with around 3,000 stalls on the footpaths spread around. It becomes, what you could call, a poor man’s shopping mall.
Step into the market, and you get to see is a crowd, busy striking a deal and bargaining.
Vendors scream out to catch attention competing with the non-stop honking of auto rickshaws and motorbikes. The bazaar hawkers set up their wares around 7 am and stay on till 8 pm with people trickling in excess even when the sun is shining in all its scorching glory. People who come to this market are convinced that if there is anything that is not available in the city on ordinary days, a trip to the Sunday market could be the answer.
Name it, and you will find it. Garments, electronic goods, hosiery, cradles, antiques, computers, speakers, spare-parts, dumbells-- piled up and falling out of the seams of this market.
The goods are washed, tinkered, painted, varnished, polished, dyed and cleaned to give it the shine that can give a complex to firsthand goods too.
Urban folklore has it that this market sells stolen items, but vendors refuse to buy this allegation. “We buy the goods from bigger malls, given in exchange offers and sell them here. Why would we steal them?”asks an angered vendor Babu.
They say that it all started when a few traders started selling second-hand goods in one of the bylanes of Sultanpet on Sunday mornings, when the regular shops and traders are shut and vehicular traffic was low. Slowly, this trade grew and spilled on to other parts of the area.
The market is very popular among the poor householders as they can choose from a platter of goods -- old and new alike. The mechanics and also the hobbyists get an array of spares and scraps to choose from, electric drills, bicycle parts, speakers, woofers, laptops at throwaway prices, and to add to that one can even bargain up to half the said price. It is also popular among the youngsters who can grab a range of spares to modify their vehicles without burning big holes in their pockets.
After the Bangalore blasts, a ban was imposed on this bazaar for four weeks. And before that the demise of actor Rajkumar had seen this bazaar shut for a while. Abdul, a vendor said, “This ban is politically-driven, as the market has many belonging to one community and the party in power does not want to help us. We are told that there will be a meeting of our representatives with the police to sort out the matter.” Some even suspected that this ban could have been instigated by the regular shopkeepers for their business was getting affected.
The market which spreads for around three km in the old town of Bangalore between KR Market and KG Road, is busy hoping that no band is put in place.
This ban has been proposed after an allegation that the market was making way for increasing number of criminal activities, and a gang was recently alleged to have bought the lethal weapons from this market for pittance. Though iron rods and other goods are available, lethal weapons are said to e provided only on demand, through the middlemen.