George Varghese, a resident of Thiruvananthapuram ,was in Madurai last Sunday. He had come all the way after seeing a YouTube video on Madurai’s Sunday flea market. “I wanted a small part for my father’s transistor, a 1950 make. I scoured through Kerala but couldn’t find it. I wanted the transistor to play again and that’s when a friend told me about the market in Madurai. He claimed that one can get anything under the sun here,” says George. “And I found the spare part here, much to my surprise! I couldn’t believe that I got the exact spare part for an antique transistor. I fished it out from a rubble of wires, switches, screws, plugs, adapters, pins and other small electrical spares spread out at the shop.”
Every Sunday, the space underneath the Madura Coats Bridge in the centre of Madurai, comes alive with shops selling knick knacks of all kinds. This weekly flea market has been functioning for over 75 years and it’s a paradise for people who are on the hunt for things rare and old. Week after week, about 100 hawkers throng the area and spread their ware — from cheap plastic items, electric and electronic components, bike and car parts, antique brass ware, used household appliances, furniture, age-old watches, games and sports ware. You name it, the market has it.
Cacophonous with the calls of hawkers, ongoing traffic above the bridge and garrulous shoppers, the flea market is a fun place to visit on a Sunday. People young and old, wealthy and the modest, descend here to find things they want. Veer Jain, an antique collector sourced some of his collections from this market. “Last week, I found an ornamental brass jug and took it home to be made into a flower vase. It was beautiful and heavy. It would have easily costed me ₹10,000 had I bought it from an antique market. But here, I bought it for just ₹1000,” he says. “Once, I bought an antique gramophone in working condition. This week, I am eyeing that pair of Kerala bronze lamps.”
P Jegan, a hawker, visits the market twice a month to sell brass ware. “I get these from houses that throw away old things. I search for them all over, source them from different places. I buy them for cheap and sell with a slender margin. It is sufficient if my travel expenses get covered; I give them away for the price the customer wants,” he says.
Spare parts of automobiles found here are from various sources, some of which are dubious, according to V Mathan, a bike enthusiast, who buys spares from the market. “Once, I bought a good-looking tail lamp and used it for my bike. Likewise, one can find spares of outdated models. It’s an unregulated market and hence things sourced through various channels land up here. One can’t really make out from where a particular item is sourced. It could be even from the junk yard,” he says.
However, the happy side is that it’s a win win for both hawkers and shoppers. Kandasamy, who sells discarded TVs, home appliances like mixers and grinders, says that many of these are the freebies given by the Government. He has dozens of the old portable Kalaignar TV sets. “Once flat screen LED TVs became affordable, these Kalaignar TVs were discarded. However, there’s a second-hand market for these. Apart from whole TVs, the spares are also dismantled and sold.”
So, heading to the flea market this Sunday?
