HYDERABAD: Swarming pedestrians spilling onto the road, hawkers pushing their way with carts full of wares, riders and drivers honking and crawling through the melee and the traffic police jeep adding to the confusion with their sirens wailing in the night. This is the scene of the night bazaar during Ramzaan at Charminar.As you squeeze through the organised chaos like amoeba (there really is no other way you can get around otherwise), you are called to from all directions by vendors hoping to ensnare you among the delectable arrangement of goods they have to offer. Needless to say, the bazaar has everything to offer; from clothes for all ages to shoes for most ages, to kitchen cutlery and crockery, to plastic decorative flowers to fruits, chocolates, hats, bags, jewellery, accessories, an assortment of clips, hair-bands, elastic bands and fancy bands (no one really knows what they’re meant for), make-up...and the exhaustive list goes on and on....and on.For a proper Hyderabadi, this scene will probably not even inspire them to bat an eye-lid. But giving the ever growing consumer corporate market, the old city markets have been forgotten by the average middle-class shopper. With departmental stores like FoodWorld, Spar, More and so on always an arm’s length away, the sheer experience of wading through a sea of bodies to find the right item at the best price (most items are cheaper compared to the departmental store, so it really depends on your haggling skills) is something that has become more and more exclusive to Old City residents.Nevertheless, Ramzaan is always a good excuse to go back to what is considered quintessential Hyderabad.The night bazaar is a tradition during this particular month as shops remain open through most of the night, opening again just around the time the Muslims break fast at day-end. With current lifestyles, this is pretty good timing as most office-goers start getting off from work around the same time. Says Abid Mohiuddin, managing director of Maqdoom brothers, an around 150 year old clothes store on Charminar road, “We remain open till about 2 or 3 am for shoppers during Ramzaan month. Business is good, so why close shop?”The store, being run by the third generation of the family, has seen a lot and evolved with time. Says Mohiuddin, “Until about five or six years ago, we were not really clued in to important days for other religions or other people and used to wonder what the fuss was about. But there is so much more awareness and as business people, we have to be broad-minded. So the difference between Ramzaan month and the rest of the year is a blur, unlike earlier when we used to eagerly wait for it.” While this is the case with an established retail store that has its own brand name supporting it through the year, the Ramzaan night bazaar has more to do with the cheaper hawkers who set up shop only during this time or any other festival.Mohammed Aslam Choudhary is a 50-odd year old man who stands on a stool at his stall, talking into a grainy microphone saying, “Hey! Hey! Hey! Here, here, here! Do sau (200), do sau, rendu vanda (200), rendu vanda, 200, 200 only.” He goes on to name a list of Bollywood celebrities like Imran Khan, Sharukh Khan, etc calling to passers-by to come buy clothes from him. If not for anything, people stop just to listen to him call out to them in Telugu, Hindi, English and even Tamil! “I have been doing this for 40 years of my life. I travel to cities, collecting goods all the while and set up whenever there is a festival. I have a fixed price of Rs 200 and sell good pieces. Ramzaan is always a good time for business, and so are other festivals. But only then. Any other time is a bit of a dry spell. Which is why I travel,” he says.Aslam Choudhary sells clothes mostly for children and adolescents. At a fixed price for Rs 200. Rather new to the night bazaar this year are carts of chocolates akin to Kit-Kat that are sold in loose at about Rs 30 for 250 grams. Prakash, one such vendors, says, “We get the chocolates from an agent in Nampally who sources it from the company. Chocolates are good business especially now since a lot of children come to the bazaar with their parents.”A walk through the night bazaar or for that matter the Charminar bazaar without visiting the bangle market is incomplete. A glittering promenade lined with lac and stone studded bangles, woman shoppers will be hounded by a dozen shop owners calling to them. The choice is many and bright and range from starting prices of Rs 100 to Rs 5,000. “We have bangle sets for brides which cost the higher end. But otherwise we have something for everyone. However, we don’t have fixed prices per say, hence we don’t give discounts during any season, says Md Rizwan of Sana bangles and jewellery.Negotiable price or not, this is the time to usher in new designs and cash on them. Maqdoom brothers who start planning four months in advance for Ramzaan, have 400 new patterns for shoppers. All in all, the spirit of Ramzaan is infectious, what with countless stalls of anything and everything possible and the warm aroma of Haleem wafting through the air, promising that if nothing else works out, that hot bowl of food will.
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