As schoolteachers, both my grandfather and grandmother spent
the maximum part of their career in rural areas. It was often fun and mirth for
me to go with my grandfather for shopping and a lot of excitement to go with
him on hunting. Clipping a BSA double barrel rifle to his bicycle he used to
give me a lift too as he went about hunting. It was quite a thrill to see him
hunt. More interesting it was for me when he took me shopping in the village
weekly market. I could get my instant gratification from the sweets and eats he
used to buy for me. The market was an open place and it was fun to see him
bargaining and later boasting with my grandmother how he managed to win good
bargains!
I was driving through the
highway from Pune to Bangalore recently and in a village near Satara I came
across a similar weekly open market that caught my attention. There it was, the
same kind of market with open shops under shanties selling various kinds of
merchandise. My car automatically slowed down to catch a glimpse of the market
(more like Nirad Chaudhury’s car that is driven by sheer will power!). I
realized that shanty markets are still commonplace in India. It has temporary structures erected every
week in a marketplace to enable the farmers and other small retailers to spread
their wares and retail in a street retail format. A weekly market covering many
catchment villages from where customers would come and shop their weekly needs,
the shops would range from small appliances, garments, masalas, and vegetables
to selling cattle and fodder too. ‘Bargaining’ is an integral part of the
shanty market where retailers quote their prices for commodities and wares and
customers seek the pleasure of having hunted for good bargains. In these
markets even cows, buffaloes, sheep and goats are sold. Prices are negotiated symbolically
using a system of the buyer asking for the price by touching the fingers of the
seller under a cloth cover so that the negotiation is kept confidential in the
open market. Similarly Fairs and Melas in villages are an annual phenomenon and
they are usually organized during religious and temple festivals. Shopping,
eating out and entertainment are the key components of the annual rural fairs.
Many shops are set up for crowds could come from distant places as well. More
often relatives and families meet during these significant occasions annually.
Fairs have various categories of small temporary shops and they are punctuated
with many snack shops of the local flavours and tastes. A merry-go-round and a
giant wheel would always entertain kids and youth among many other attractions
like an instant photo booth, magic show, circus show, film show, etc. and even
a ‘well of death’ or a motorcycle ‘globe of death’ where speeding motorcycles
would cross paths.
Come September, even Mumbai is
not spared from the fever of the fair. The Mount Mary fair in Bandra in
September is a famous one, where crowds from various places would throng the
place. In addition to its religious fervor, the whole place would reverberate
with many street shops selling all kinds of merchandise. Shopping, eating out
and buying souvenirs during that time would be a good deal of fun!
The shanty market is very
similar to what is referred to as flea markets globally, which originated in
the 1800s in developed economies. Shanty market retailing takes place as large
crowds of people visit this open-air market under shacks temporarily erected
for the purpose. The shanty markets also provide a platform for many rural
entrepreneurs to explore their retailing skills and grow and expand their
business. The flea market sets itself as a different format from such a street
market, as it follows self imposed governance and code of conduct followed such
as controlled zoning, pricing discipline, etc. among the vendors. The flea
market has now found place in modern retailing across the world. The shanty
market too may come in a new ‘avatar’ to modern retailing in India.
Are we going to see flea
markets in many of our malls soon?
- Dr. Gibson G. Vedamani
No comments:
Post a Comment