[Reader-list] (no subject)

[Naresh Goswami]

An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20030620/b54bd28e/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
Dear all

Here are a few interesting observations about the weekly bazaars in east Delhi. These are preliminary notings. Pl. have a critical look and let me know of your valuable inputs and comments.

Regards
Naresh Goswami



A day at Gokul Puri Bazaar

Gokul puri is an urban village situated on the northeast boundary of Delhi and counts Gurjar, as it’s the original inhabitants. But like other such villages that have lost their way into the entrails of urbanisation Gokulpuri is also a vast zigzag expanse of human cluster where migrants have out numbered the natives. My three visits to the village colony were no less than a revelation to me, because at the stage of writing the proposal, Gokulpuri had appeared to be a small point in the larger context of this demographic zone. But as I made progressive investigation into the field, the notion  had to be substantially revised. It turned to be far bigger an area than i had  expected. The fact that Gokul puri is a sort of frontline settlement to a vast area, which progressively merges with the territory of 
UttarPradesh, enhances the importance of this market.

The Gokul puri bazaar is perhaps largest in the entire zone of the proposed area of our study. With a three km long trunk line and three branch lines this bazaar is spatially more extensive than any other market in our proposed area of study. In terms of variety of goods, size of shops, number of both vendors and buyers and total collection of money at the end of the day, no other market comes any near to it. Pravin Jain, who is famous for his quality petticoats, says that Gokul puri is a dream deal for most of the shopkeepers. So much so that even after paying ‘Hafta’ to the police and local bigwigs you still feel satisfied and happy at the end of the day. What makes this bazaar different from its counterparts in the whole area is the variety and a certain tinge of contemporary fashion. And so here you find quite a good number of shops selling Jeans and T-shirts.

The presence of a large shoe market within the Mangle Bazaar of GokulPuri gives a distinct character to it.To have two three shops selling the same stuff is quite a common sight in any weekly bazaar, but here the scenario is all too different. Though apparently a part of Tuesday market the shoe wing sends out a sense of  being something complete and independent on its own rather than being a subsidiary part of the weekly market.

Later I found that this was not a matter of impreesion alone, in fact, it has had an independent status. It was merged with the mangal(tuesday) bazaar only four years ago. Actually the two haats were held on the same day but their venues were away from each other; the shoe bazaar for instance had a separate venue on the other side of the trunk road.Three years back a fly over was commissioned on the Gokul puri crossing and so with the construction  work getting underway this bazaar had to be shifted to the inner circle of Gokul puri. This was how the shoe bazar lost its separate identity and ended up being just one more section in the Mangal Bazaar. The sheer size and length of it, however, invites you to go deeper into its constitution. 

So, last time I found myself taking a round of the shoe market in  search of such a vendor  who could give me more information about it. With  their  trendy assortment of shoes —often local remakes of  famous brand names, the young shop keepers were busy with buyers. Poonam chand chauhan is  a middle aged person with a rugged and tough looking face. He was sitting on ground with his shoes carefully lined up on a black polythene sheet. poonam chand has been in this profession for fifteen years. When I asked him about the organisation of weekly markets and time of his entry into this bazaar, he refused to be specific and rather took me on a short tour of contemporary history of weekly haats.
Before he came over to this area, Poonam chand had a regular ‘Thiya’ at the famed chor bazaar. The latter, it may be recalled here was a huge market of  everyday articles that was closed down about four years ago and the space thus reclaimed was turned into a park. The vendors, shopkeeper, thus dislocated were given an alternative space near Jama Masjid. But the place was too small to accommodate all the shopkeepers. 

This whole exercise of offering an alternative site was an eyewash, said Poonam Chand. According to him the bazaar could never pick in a new setting. The disorganisation of the market network and the resulting dislocation meant an irreparable fall in   income for most of the vendors and shopkeepers. As a consequence, many people closed down their business and moved out to other places; Poonam Chand is but one victim of the tragic closure of chor bazar. He is angry with the way labourers and daily wage earners have been evicted  in the name of keeping the city ‘clean and Green’, the man has not been able to recover from that loss now he has limited his business largely to selling second hand shoes, that he buys in bulk from Raghubir Nagar.