In 1908 when the Musi flooded the city, like other shops that were shifted to the Shahi Rath Khana Stores, the stable for royal carriages built during the Qutb Shahi period in Pathergatti, Haji Kurban Hussain Mulla Abdul Taiyeb was also forced to move his crockery shop from Golconda to Gulzar Houz and then to the Shahi Rath Khana Stores.
This famous crockery market is the Osmania Bazaar of the current times, which has people coming here from Trimulgherry, Hi-Tec City and other far-flung areas.
“The market was christened during the Silver Jubilee of Mir Osman Ali Khan. The shops are old but have changed hands. Today Osmania Bazaar has over 15-20 stores selling porcelain and ceramic crockery sets, steel utensils, Moradabadi brass vessels, copper ‘gangals’, ‘tateda’, ‘bhapka’ and other paraphernalia gifted during Hyderabadi weddings,” says Ali Shajee Taiyebi, secretary Osmania Bazar Merchants & Residents Association and proprietor Haji Kurban Hussain Mulla Abdul Taiyeb, the 118-year old crockery and glassware showroom.
Collection for Ramzan
The wedding season, which excludes the months of Muharram, Safar and Ramzan of the Islamic calendar, brings customers to the shop for porcelain dinner sets, pressed glass lemon sets and the best of table and kitchenware.
But when it is Ramzan, the shops offer new collections of dessert sets to serve ‘Sheer khorma’ - the vermicelli delight – plus accessories such as quarter plates, snack and tea sets and more for the various Eid delicacies.
While pressed glass bowls were popular a few years ago, imported bone china, porcelain and ceramic dessert and tea sets embellished with platinum are in demand now.
For the classic look there are the 24 carat gold-rimmed tea sets and mugs. The designer opal, porcelain and bone china tableware are sourced from Thailand, Japan, and from factories in Jaipur, West Godavari and Gudivada.
Discerning customers
“Hyderabadis have always had a penchant for fine crockery. Even during the Nizams’ and British rule, it was common to find porcelain crockery from Holland, England and Japan, like you find in the museums and on the walls in the old ‘deodhis’, being sold in Charminar. It was used as regular tableware in homes. Owing to the political climate then, English porcelain was preferred over Japanese,” says Mr. Taiyebi, who has descendants of the city’s royal families as clientele even now.
Today the love for the good life still rules in the city where people believe in leaving no stone unturned in playing the ideal host for the ‘mehman nawazi’ during Eid.
The only difference is a contemporary dash of chic platinum-rimmed crockery to the traditional banquet.
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