THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a loosely cobbled extension to the Puthirikandam Ground at East Fort, a small, open market comes to life every Sunday. The offers, the wares and the sellers do not sport anything uncommon. It is the buyers that make this bazaar special. Hailing from various parts of the country, the migrant labourers have made this open bazaar their own for quite a while. Shirts, trousers, jeans, undergarments, footwear, belts, cheap watches and even transistor radios are on sale as the hawkers shout out prices of their wares in Hindi. “This market is open only on Sundays, as it is the only holiday the migrant labourers have in a week,” says Vijayarangan, who runs a clothes stall. Constantly shouting out prices in rudimentary Hindi, Vijayarangan is determined to off load as much of his stock as he can. “Since we operate only on Sundays, the income we get is very low. Our survival per week depends on what we earn every Sunday. Therefore, the competition among the hawkers is fiercer than usual,” he says. Vijayarangan says that he has learnt basic Hindi on the job and that his customers have learned bits and pieces of Malayalam with constant interaction. “The migrant labourers are mainly from Bihar and Orissa. These men pick up a few Malayalam words after spending sometime in the state. I have learnt some Hindi to negotiate with my customers,” he explains. Many stalls see a constant flow of customers and business proceeds at a decent rate. The customers find the market very affordable. ‘’This is where we get things at such a cheap rate. If you have got the knack to haggle, you could even get it at a much lower rate,’’ says a customer. The hawkers agree that the business here has been really profitable. ‘’The demand is so huge. The peak time in the business lasts for hours,’’ says Shahjahan, who sells Chinese-made electronic goods. The market was actually set up by a group of vendors who once sold their goods on footpaths. They moved into the vacant space near Putharikandam after they were forced to leave the streets owing to road construction. The vendors say that they are happy that they moved on and ended up in this open market. ‘’We have had good returns ever since we began selling our wares here,’’ says Vijayarangan. Most of the clothes are brought from Bangalore, directly from factories and factory outlets. “The migrant labourers cannot afford to shop at the big shops in the city,” explains Sudheer, another hawker. “We sell them shirts at Rs 50 and trousers at Rs 100. The quality may not be great, but the customers buy these mainly to wear at worksites, where comfort is preferred over quality,” he says.
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