Street Vendors of Bombay

Bombay, New York and then some...

Work takes me to New York very often. Infact, I only return to Philadelphia during weekends now. The minute I spot the NY skyline from my rusty, spring-roll smelling, Chinatown bus - adrenaline rushes through my veins and I am instantly filled with a new-found vigor and zest for life. Cliched? Maybe. But it doesn't stop be from feeling giddy-headed and energetic everytime I'm in New York.

New York is the closest I've come to feeling like I'm back in Bombay. (Notice how I do not refer to Bombay as home anymore :-) Travel, age and wisdom have thankfully made the idea of home deliciously uncomplicated for me) New York posseses the same unruly, filthy and glamorous aura that Bombay emanates. The surging "anything is possible" optimism and the juxtaposition of poverty and wealth, grit and style, blue-collar and chanel collar, and lust and love --- makes New York impossible to resist. The city simulataneously inspires fear and longing within me. It awes me, yet beckons me.

Street Hawkers - A thriving culture in Bombay

This isn't meant to be a gushing appraisal for either cities. Its acutually a post on how street-vendors, or street-hawkers contribute largely in making a city's culture.- in building its buzz and lending it character and color. Growing up in Bombay, the street-hawkers were perhaps our most reliable sources for everything from vegetables to quick snacks, from sumptous desserts to varied knick-knacks. Even with the large department stores, megamarts, hypermarts and whatnot clouding the Bombay markets, the street hawker/vendor culture is still thriving and vitally alive!

When I moved to Philadelphia, among other things what I missed  most was being able to simply walk out and buy warm roasted corn or hairpins or a quick snack from a vendor. As a vegeterian, I couldn't really enjoy the hot-dog carts but even then - the street carts in Philly and in USA in general were just way too sophisticated and urbane for me to enjoy them! Weird, huh.

The closest Philly ever came to emulating Bombay's hawkers were the random vendors in downtown Philly selling fake Prada bags. And the singular Korean woman selling cheap glitzy scarves for exhorbitant prices and who adamatly refused to bargain! If you are an Indian - the skill of bargaining comes ingrained. It's a package deal. (Even if you aren't aware of it or do not appreciate bargaining!!) Flea markets presented the absolute opportunity to polish my bargaining skills and return with a load of cheap plastic junk! Like the huge Tokyo-style paper umbrella that I paid $3 for-- or the pack of 24 AA battery for $5! More than the actual products- its the process of obtaining these products that thrills me!

But New York-- ahhh. Every nook in NY has its special falafel cart or the fruit cart or the fake prada cart! I remember two summers ago, (2004) I was interning at an upscale magazine house and one of the magazines the company publishes had recently done a large 2-spread story on how fake Louis Vitton bags were affecting LVMH. It was incredibly ironic to read that story because right infront of the company's building, a Nigerian guy has been selling these fake LVMH and Prada bags for since 2003!

Junior college days in Bombay (11th and 12th grade) were tagged by luxurious afternoons spent sipping milk drinks and feasting on pav-vadas and sandwiches. Certain hawkers with makeshift carts had become a staple in our day-to-day routine. Every few days, there would be a police raid and the hawkers would pack in a frenzy and flee their carts, hiding in the next street watching intently. The police would confiscate the carts and belongings of the ones who were left behind. And yet-- miraculously, the next day or often, within the next few hours, the hawkers would reappear at their usual points and resume serving the hungry college students. We never once questioned how the hawkers managed to stay illegally on the streets - but we guessed they had an unofficial agreement with the police and probably bribed the police with a part of their earnings.

There are streets in Bombay infamous just for their hawkers. Khaudra Gully/Bajaj Road in Parle West where the fresh juice-wala cart has a website, the owner owns a cell-phone for home deliveries and his son studies in Australia. Or Linking Road in Bandra, which is dotted with cheap and stylish shoe-carts that scamper everytime a police van draws closer and reappear minutes later. Infact, I heard this crazy story from a friend who's in Bombay about a bunch of hotel-management students setting up a street-cart outside Shivaji Park making fancy golas (crushed ice topped with syrups, nuts and tangy masalas) - the buzz was that the students used mineral water to make the golas and were extremely careful about hygiene and cleanliness - a trait often not associated with street vendors in Bombay. *sigh*  The street vendors in Bombay contribute to its bustling city life, an image synanmous with the colorful stridents foreigners always associate India with.

Drawing Parellels...

The street vendors are a by product of an economy largely underground and tax-free. Unless you buy stuff from actual stores, the hawkers rarely, if at all, charge sales tax. The transactions are cash only-- and if you develop a personal relationship with the hawker then the transactions happen on credit- the kind you pay in cash at the end of every week or month. I am not sure but I think a large number of street vendors in Bombay come from outside the city - immigrants who want to make it big in Bollywood-city. Take for example, Mucchhad, he is notorioulsy famous for two things: his uber-long mustache that reaches his ears and his paans (an indian after-meals snack made of betelnut leaves and stuffed with condiments)  His family originally came from Allahbad, in 1977 and has stayed in Bomaby since, incurring fame and name for his tiny paan shop.

In New York - I've gleefully noticed the same. Pardon my ignorance or any mistakes in observations and drawing these conclusions for my knowledge about New York is limited to the last couple of months of constant traveling and working in the city. New York's economy has symbiotically existed with the street-vendors cash-only transactions to make life easier for the often non-english speaking immigrants or aspiring non-new yorkers who are either here because of their families or the desire to make it better living. 

I already have a fruit-cart on 42nd Street that has become my favorite. The sandwich guy near Bryant park happily accomodates my vegeterian palate and these cold January days are made cheerful thanks to the rare occasions I meet the roasted-chestnuts cart. Yumm. As a group of drunk Indians ambled past the twisted streets of Chinatown looking for the bus that would take us home to Philly, my friends were thrilled on finding a street cart selling hot, spicy kababs on skewers at 7am on 1st January 2006.  Like those streets in Bombay you hear of via word-of-mouth, Canal Street in Chinatown and the area around Battery Park rocks for street jewlery and pirated DVD's -- (don't buy them-- they are cheap but the print sucks!) I am convinced, if I look hard enough and stay long enough- I will probably learn of those hard-to-find street vendors that are skilled in their craft (whatever that may be!) and who knows, I may probably find a random cart in some gully of Queens selling pav-vadas, very Bombay style!

Other places...

I can only refer to experiences from my stay in Italy to draw more parellels to the street-vendor culture in mega-cities. Bangaledeshi and Pakitani immigrants sold cheap cashmere scarves and jewelery, enticing tourists in perfect Italian. Infact, I met an illegal Sri Lankan immigrant who spoke perfect French, Spanish and Italian in addition to Hindi and English, selling scarves by a beach in Sicily. He hops from one country to another, adapting the country's language, customs and selling-techniques to make money. In Florence, I haggled with an Indian leather-vendor for my friend so that she could buy the coat of her choice for a much lower price. This was all three years ago. Maybe much has changed after, maybe nothing has changed. But Rome reminded me of India a lot. Instead of shopping for vegetables at a huge store like I did in Philly, I bargained for my fruits, veggies and bread and cheese at an open-air market in Rome. Most of the little shopping I did in Italy was from the street vendors. Leather wallets, stone jewelry, a soft pink wollen shawl, and random Made In India cashmere scarves (!!) all bought for cheap from street-hawkers. What the heck- I even bought half a dozen "blessed" little silver crosses from a vendor near the Vatican. Ofcourse I did the perfuntory visitations of classy stores and teeny boutiques, but looking back, my fondest memories of shopping in Italy are those experienced on the streets. :)

Concluding...

I'm a city-girl. Heart and soul. Which is perhaphs why, street hawkers are such an essential part of my travel memories. To me, they lend a certain authenticity and life to a city that is invisible it its concreate department stores and glass showrooms. In the midst of fabricated beauty and culture, the street represents to me the true, liquid, soul of the city. When I think of the familial hertiage Bombay and their first street-shop has lent the Mucchhad family or the aspiration of the Huanese bus-driver who he shuttles between Philly and New York delivering passengers to their destinations or the Sri Lankan immigrant on a Sicilian beach, more qualified and smart than I can ever be -- I know I have truly recognized and known the soul of that city.

* Photos from Flickr.com, and paan.com

Comments

[Akshay]

A great post and a brilliant account on South Asian street culture . Interestingly I've actually taken the second picture.
You've got a great blog and I'll take some time and look through some of you're other posts. BTW thanks for you're comment on Metroblogging Mumbai.

[paresh kerkar]

great post
but there is nothing like bombay... mumbai

[Kush Tandon]

Very well written.

I was in Naples in '95. It reminded me of India quite a bit - all the chaos, maybe only little less but only little less. In '96, I was in Granada, and they have vendors all over.

I miss "Vegetable Markets (Sabji Mandi)" from India. Next time, I will make some rounds there.

[Jinal Shah]

Akshay - Thank you for such beautiful photographs! Btw, I'll be joining you on Metroblogging soon!

Paresh - :) Thanks!

Kush - Thank you! Yes.. Italy, in a lot of ways, has a similar aura. Maybe its the ancient history, the strong familial traditions or just the people! Here in Philly... the Italian market and the Reading terminal market are the closest it comes to the Sabjo Mandi!

[Akshay]

I look forward to seeing you on Metroblogging Mumbai. You would be the second New Yorker - Mumbaiker in the list after Arzan.

[panasianbiz]

I have had the privilege of living in several different countries abroad, as well as in the U.S., so I have also had reason to compare the vendors here with those in other countries. One thing that has struck me is how rich in tradition and culture these markets are overseas, as well as, of course, offering bargains.