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One of the most vibrant
and interesting areas of Delhi is the Jama Masjid and its environs
with its many bazaars. Urdu Bazaar specializes in rare books, old
manuscripts and journals. There are shops that stock Catherine
wheels and enormous rockets which when fired burst into clouds of
twinkling stars. Also on sale are colourful caps, pictures of sacred
places, sizzling kababs, savoury pulaos, stuffed parathas served with
yoghurt, halwa and delectable sweets.
You can see piles of rose
petals and smell their fragrance. The air is scented with fresh
bread, cauldrons of thickening sweet milk, spices, curies, incense
and tobacco. Tame pigeons flutter down from a minaret to perch on
the unwary.
Visitors are greeted with
cries of the shopkeepers, coolies (porters) and rickshawallas,
clatters and whirres of furious industry. Near the steps of the Jama
Masjid, you find old fashioned heavy flat-irons put up for sale.
Each has a number indicating its weight. Then there are shops that
deal in car parts with a complete range form smallest ball bearing to
an engine. Much of it is piled up outside for customers’
inspection. For bibliophiles, the attractions are books on Indology
and special hand-made paper.
All these newer bazaars
have taken the place of the Gudri Bazaar. This bazaar at
Shahjahanbad extended to the entire open space between Khas and
Khanam Ka Bazaar, not far form Delhi Gate. This particular area was
known as Chowk Saadullah Khan after Shah Jahan’s Prime Minister.
The Chowk, as described by Nawab Salar Jung during Muhammad Shah’
reign, hummed with activity. Astrologers made pleasing prophecies,
preachers waxed eloquent on a number of themes and quacks advertised
their tonics and remedies. There were wine-sellers; vendors selling
dry fruits, exotic birds and animals. The cages for these creatures
exhibited a high standard of workmanship, artistic design and fetched
exhorbitant prices.
A few years after the
conquest of Delhi in 1857, the British demolished and cleared the
Khas and Khanam Ka Bazaar and open areas around including the Chowk
Saadullah Khan. The army authorities took over and Delhi became an
army camp.
After clearance an open
market grew up around Jama Masjid and on its steps. Sellers of pet
animals gave way to dealers in well trained birds like pigeons,
mynahs, parrots, and partridges. There were customers who would come
everyday to buy them. The seller were in great demand. Among them
was the famous Masita, making and selling hot kababs skewered on his
iron rod. A renowned story teller would sit on the steps of Jama
Masjid surrounded by fascinated listeners.
Salesmanship developed
into a fine art, mixed with good-humoured banter. The man selling a
trained pigeon to a customer would claim: “This bird is so well
trained that it will never leave your house. It will fly high every
day. Just keep a large vessel of water in your courtyard and you
will never lose sight of its reflection in the water.” Sellers
of kababs also resorted to hyperbolic cries to hawk their wares.
Before selling his miracle cures, the hakim would spend time raving
against quacks.
Shopkeepers at the Gudri
Bazaars were temperamental. If they did not approve of your attire,
mannerism or speech, nothing was sold and you would be the loser. Id
was a specially busy day when the rich and poor congregated at the
mosque for prayers. Flowers in large baskets added colour to the
summer’s day. Water carriers with leather skins on their backs
and two cups in their hands, hummed a tune, offering you the sweetest
water from a newly constructed well.
The karkhandars
(artisans) also called the chawani walas, were
constantly in high spirits. They loved the theatre, acting and music
and were patrons of bioscope and circus.
Fourteen years ago,
before the dilapidated shacks in the open market were demolished,
buyers could spend many hours shopping. If you needed vital spare
parts for a vintage car, woolen coats in fashion over two decades
ago, quilts, furniture, old handwritten manuscripts or even rare
books, Gudri Bazaar was just the place where you could strike a good
bargain.
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