Every week, Syed Chand waits for Thursday. On the day, the 25-year-old electrician from Sanathnagar rushes to the Jummerath Bazaar weekly fair, where he gets spare parts of different electronic items at throwaway prices.
“I get them cheap here. With these, I replace the damaged electronic items at my workshop. It proves cost-effective for me as well as my customer,” he says.
Hundreds of people, cutting across vocations, drop in at the weekly shanty to buy their requirements. Though the times have changed, the popularity of the market has not fallen.
“I make it a point to visit the fare every week as I get used spare parts, especially of old vehicles which I do not get at anywhere else,” says Razaaq, a two-wheeler mechanic from Shamshabad.
There is no dearth of goods sold here. One can buy anything from a pack of safety pins to clothes, a screwdriver to a big cauldron. “Unlike the past, the market now offers a mix of old and new articles. Of course, the stuff is priced cheaply,” Santosh Kumar, a trader says.
Goods are sold here on a first-come-first-serve basis: those who drop in early are the lucky ones.
“The market begins in the early hours of Thursday and the rush is more between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. People come in to buy goods before they rush to work,” another trader says.
The star attraction of the place is the footwear stalls. Though the source of the shoes remains a mystery, the traders say they buy it from cobblers or from discarded lots. Sandals, formal leather shoes, sports shoes and slippers are on offer at the 20-odd footwear stalls here.