Jummerat Bazaar, a charismatic market in Hyderabad

Held every Thursday on a 2-km stretch in Old City, it's known for its range of miscellaneous items

Hyderabad: In an era where e-commerce platforms are catering to a majority of the requirements of the people, the popular weekly market ‘Jummerat Bazaar’ still holds its charisma.

Literally meaning Thursday Market, the Jummerat Bazaar held on the roadside stretching to about 2 km from Musalamjung Bridge to Puranapul Bridge, is one of the oldest weekly marketplaces held in the Old City. Every Thursday, traders here start the business at 5 am and continue till 3 pm.

Thousands of people visit the weekly market from across the city. Mechanical tools, carpets, automobile spare parts, clothes, herbal medicines, bicycles, pre-used kitchen electronic items, antique watches or clocks, coins, tape recorders, radios, television sets and other miscellaneous articles are sold at here.

“Certain old articles such as radios, television sets, and record players are an attraction at the market. Dealers who own such collections visit the market on Thursday and set up the stalls. Usually, you don’t find it anywhere in the city,” said Nizamuddin, a trader who has been selling radios for last three decades here.

Many of the traders have been setting up stalls every week for about three to four decades. “I am a second generation family member. My father used to sell transistors and radios here. I used to accompany him as a child to the market. Now after his demise, I started setting up the stall and sell electronic items,” Shareef, a resident of Golconda.

Around 500 traders descend at the market in early hours of Thursday and set up the stall. The flow of visitors to the market starts around 5 am and by 8 am it is fully crowded. “Due to the traffic movement, people usually avoid visiting the market after 11 am. But we conduct business until 2 pm,” said Mukesh Singh, who sells mobile phone accessories.

The attraction of the market are two stalls where articles like pressure cookers, bed sheets and pillow cover sets, mattresses, electronic gadgets and other things are put up for auction. “If not at throw away price, people get goods in auction at a reasonable price,” explains Mohd Shafe, one of the organisers of such public auctions.

The market, according to the local people, dates back to the Nizam era. “I am nearly 70 year old and since my youth days, I am visiting the market occasionally. So I can vouch it is held for more than 50 years,” said Sharfu Miya, a resident of Hussaini Alam, who runs a tape recorder and television repair shop and frequents the place to buy spare parts of old models of the electronic goods.

The market was not conducted for eight months in 2020 due to Covid pandemic. Prior to it, the police did not allow the business only during communal riots and curfews, recalled Sharfu Miya.