Steal a deal

Jummeraat Bazaar, which is popularly known as Chor Bazaar is one of the popular markets in the city, where one can find anything at a price.

The name “Jummeraat” comes from Urdu meaning Thursday. From a safety pin to a plane, everything is available here. On a Thursday morning, the bazaar comes alive and it becomes really difficult not to get caught in this melee.

People come here from all over the State for old parts of vehicles. All new things get sold here early in the morning on Thursdays and if you are lucky you can get a used cell phone or a laptop at a throwaway price. This flea market is also known for second-hand bicycles as well. There are also some dealers who pick up bicycle parts and then re-assemble them. Apart from this, the Jummeraat Bazaar is a great place where one can acquire antiques or collectible items.

The bazaar is true to its name, for one has to do their purchases extremely carefully. If you think you can get stolen goods for low prices, then you are mistaken. Often buyers get cheated if they are not alert. Most of the items are sold here in parts. Old and new cassettes, CDs, tape recorders television sets, automobile spareparts, gym equipment, furniture, decorative items, autorickshaw parts, carpets, antiques, tyres, rims, hammers, nails, clothes, shoes, old pens, cell phones, stoves, name it and you have it.

This is also a haggler’s paradise, and sometimes auctions are also held here. The auction starts at `10 and goes up to `1,000. The atmosphere that prevails in the market clearly shows that this is a place meant for the middle class and the lower middle class. But the items are rich in terms of their resale value and durability.

Anantha, a customer, who hails from Malkajgiri says that he got a laptop from here for `5,000. While it had some problems, he got it repaired. Now he is in search of a good cellphone at a cheap rate. He has already attracted an interested shopkeeper, for Majid Bhai selling old laptops and cell phones says “Come early saab, take things which are chaka chak(new).”

The bazaar is famous for stolen goods but contrary to popular belief shopkeepers say they get the goods from ragpickers and scrap yards, besides

getting used goods from customers. The bazaar has become popular amoung youngsters who frequent it to buy cell phones, laptops, bicycles, electric razors, music systems, says Rehman, who has been in this businessfor over a decade.

Old clothes, fancy items, duplicate branded shoes, lipsticks, perfumes, rayban glasses are sold here at just `75 to `90, at first glance one might take them for the original, but a closer look reveals that its Raybay and not Rayban and Puma becomes Puna. The bazaar traces its existence back to the time of the Nizams, more than a century ago. In those days goods used by the Nizam were sold at Ghode ki Khabar (the place where the horses are buried) in Dhoolpet near Hyderabad’s old city.

Slowly, it transformed into a place where a wide range of used articles began to be sold on a weekly basis, which is now visited by the poor, who come for a good bargain, and by the rich alike, who come to buy the rare antiques.

The market comes under the Shahinatgunjoutpost limits. The constables here say the situation is hectic here on Thursdays but is otherwise a peaceful place.

Tags: bazaar, chor bazaar, featured, full-image, ghode ki khabar, hyderbad, jummeraat bazaar, shopkeeper

Category: City, People Report