October 21, 2004

To a majority of consumers living on the razor edge of inflation, weekly bazaars are a great relief as they provide an opportunity to shop in bulk at cheaper rates. However, only a few bazaars are properly managed and supervised. One of them that stands out, not only in terms of better management but also because of its mammoth size, is the Sunday or Itwaar Bazaar of Defence Society.

Spread over an area of more than two acres, the Sunday Bazaar, located at Khyaban-i-Shujaat, Phase Vlll, is said to be the biggest in the country with about 6,000 stalls, offering almost everything from fruits and vegetables to crockery, cloth and leather. But, that is not the only reason it attracts thousands of people from all over the cit y every week.

The big and free car park under a token system, fixed prices of fruits and vegetables according to the government list, spacious walk areas between the different sections, proper display of merchandise with arrangements for lights at night, a huge separate section for second-hand goods including clothes, stuffed toys and shoes and last but not the least, the presence of security guards and organizers to address on-the-spot public complaints . These are some of the positive aspects that are hardly found in any other weekly bazaar.

As soon as you enter the area, Afghan boys of varying ages carrying jute bags are the first to welcome you, offering their services as porters. Though they can be a source of annoyance, their innocent faces make it hard to ignore them and the chances are that you will end up hiring one for the shopping excursion.

The first and the most widely visited section is the one with fruits and vegetables. It’s the only part of the bazaar where prices are fixed; the rest is open for bargaining, especially the second-hand section. Women flock to that section in droves where they can buy a pair of shoes for Rs100. The bazaar is a litmus test of your bargaining skills.

Visited by around 20,000 to 25,000 people, the bazar is so huge and has so much to offer that you can spend the entire day there and never be at a loose end. But that is subject to weather conditions and the cash you have for shopping.

Once there these shoppers become preoccupied with the products ranging from kitchen and decoration items, to clothes, rugs, bedcovers, toys, shoes, leather bags and a fair selection of old and new books. The organizers claim that it’s the only one of the 250 weekly bazaars of the city that generates a hefty sum of over Rs3 million revenue annually for the Defence Housing Authority.

Another feature of the bazaar worth mentioning is that women, senior citizens and the disabled have been allotted free space, tables and power facility for their stalls. A separate section to encourage more businesswomen was inaugurated a few months ago which now has stalls managed by about 100 ladies selling a wide variety of items from bangles to undergarments.

“What makes the Sunday bazaar different from the rest is its family atmosphere. It’s more like a mela and people have a wonderful time at the bazaar. It has been more than 20 years since the bazaar was opened in the Defence area. It has its regular visitors just like the salespersons who have been doing business there for years,” says a visitor.

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