Get A Feel Of The Real India At Sadar Bazar

Delhi Diary By M.Santhiran NEW DELHI, July 20 (Bernama) -- Sadar Bazar in Old Delhi is a huge wholesale market for household items and a popular shopping destination especially among Delhiites during major festivals and weekdays. Despite of the emergence of modern shopping complexes all over Delhi, Sadar Bazaar remains crowded with traders, retailers and customers from all over India. Almost all available spaces have been taken up. As early as 8am, shops and stalls open for businesses from Monday to Saturday and close at approximately 8 p.m. The colourful bric-a-brac and the host of traditional items from curry powders to colourful sarees stand testament on the diversity of the people who patronise this place. My visit to the bazaar on the eve of Eid ul-Fitr, right after the Friday prayers last week was certainly a memorable one. I literally had to wade through a sea of crowd and then the water clogged roads after a heavy downpour. And the crowd on that day was bigger than usual, as many came to buy the necessities to celebrate eid mubarak. The narrow roads, old buildings and hundreds of street vendors rekindled my memories of our own bazaars like the Petaling Street and Chow Kit road in Kuala Lumpur, early 1980s before Tourism Ministry gave both places a facelift. RICKSHAWS AND CARTS WORSEN TRAFFIC Rickshaws and carts, which are restricted in most parts of Delhi, thrive here. The best way to reach this bazaar is by the Metro train since parking facilities are not available in this area. Even if one comes by a car, they have to park at a distance and take a ride on the rickshaw. It is amazing to witness how this rickshaw pullers avoid the crowds and carts on the narrow crowded streets. They just scream and shout to alert vehicles or pedestrians before them. To add to the cacophony, shouting matches between rickshaw and cart pullers are a common scene here with either side reluctant to give way. Even the presence of policemen failed to deter the antics of these rickshaw and cart pullers or bring the crowd under control. Bargaining is a much needed skill here with hardly any traders displaying price tags to give some idea to the shoppers on the price. THE MONSOON As it is the monsoon season now, the heavy rains resulted water-logging in most parts of the streets. However, this did not put a damper on shoppers especially middle and lower income groups seeking items at a bargain price. I was drenched in the heavy rain, no thanks to absence of covered footpath. Somehow I managed to shield my mobile phone and camera from the heavy downpour using my jacket. Once the rain subsided, the streets were crowded again and was almost impassable. After spending about an hour, me and my assistant decided return to the car with heavy downpour returning again and there was no sign of the rain slowing down. Waterlogged roads and unhygienic shops were two other reasons which forced me to depart early. INFLUX OF PRODUCTS FROM CHINA Like our own markets in Malaysia, Sadar Bazar is also flooded with products from China. According to some traders the more than 100 year-old bazaar is loosing its identity as the market for traditional products from all over India. Now almost 50 percent of the shops and stalls offer products ranging from cosmetic items to apparel as well leather goods from China. Traders claims, high demand for products from China is slowly forcing them to dump local products. They agreed that most of these items were of poor in quality but there is not much option since local customers prefer them mainly due to competitive prices. Traders blamed middlemen and escalating labour costs, resulting some local items becoming costlier and losing out to competition. Drastic drop in profit margins also forced wholesalers to opt for Chinese products. Even though there is possibility that Sadar Bazaar may loss its charm due to the influx of made in China products and the arrival of new shopping complexes and bazaars all over New Delhi, it will remain the shopping haven for lower and middle income groups. I will not encourage the stylish and trendy people to visit this bazaar, unless they want a different kind of shopping experience and witness the daily life of ordinary people there. (photoBERNAMA) -- BERNAMA