It’s back to business at Hyderabad’s Jummerat Bazaar
The famed weekly shanty on the road stretch between Puranapul and Musalam Jung Bridge reopens after a gap of eight months
Hyderabad: Jummerat Bazaar is alive again. The hustle and bustle, that once made this stretch of road in the old city a part of life, with the weekly shanty being where people made most of their purchases before malls and grand shopping complexes came up, is once again back, that too after a rare gap of nearly eight months.
With the lockdown bringing life to a stop elsewhere, authorities had suspended the weekly shanty on the road stretch running parallel to the River Musi between Puranapul and Musalam Jung Bridge in March. This, according to old-timers, was the first such long gap for the Jummerat Bazaar, which was almost a weekly ritual for most people in the older parts of the city for the last several decades.
On Thursday, with news spreading that the Bazaar was once again up and on, several buyers started thronging the market. From plastic ware, carpets and mats, tools, vehicle spare parts and second-hand electronic gadgets to clothes, all that is sold here saw brisk sales.
Traders were all smiles as the authorities had permitted them to set up their shops after eight long months. “Restrictions were imposed in view of the coronavirus to avoid gatherings. Now the police have allowed us to open our shops though they have strictly advised us to avoid large gatherings and to ensure safety measures,” says Shyam Kumar, a plastic items vendor from Kishanbagh.
Most of the vendors who do business at the Jummerat Bazaar are dependent on the weekly shanty for a livelihood. With the market remaining closed for months, they had slipped into severe financial hardship. “We moved around colonies trying to sell our goods but the response was not good. Actually people trust the weekly shanties as it earned a repute over the years,” says Syed Shakeel, another vendor who reaches the Bazaar from Golconda.
Around 500 vendors from different parts of the city converge on the stretch with their wares from the early hours of Thursday and set up their shops on the roadside. “I am a regular vendor here and I’m happy to visit the market after a long break. I don’t remember the market being closed for such a long period before this,” says Satish of Jiyaguda.
Praying that such situations do not come again, the vendors are hoping for the business to improve and to pull them out of the financial misery their families are facing. “I pray that the Almighty keeps us away from such situations in the future,” says Kamlesh, who deals in mobile phone recharges and top-ups for various telecom service providers in his stall.
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