| Every Sunday, Maskan Chavady turns into a bazaar for birds and animals. PRINCE FREDERICK hangs around |
Photos: Prince Frederick
Chirps and chatters Scenes from Maskan Chavady
Traders at Maskan Chavady are wary of reporters. Three years ago, rooster-sellers went into silence at the sight of my scribble-pad. So this time around, I leave pen and paper behind but dress up for this special assignment. After my alarm clock duti fully wakes me at five in the morning, I get into a canary green polo-neck T-shirt with a block-printed image of a pigeon and catch what is probably the first morning bus in my neck of the woods. From Parry’s Corner, I hire an auto for a Sunday morning date with birds and beasts. Nobody gives me a second look, thanks to my canary green T-shirt. Good for me, the milling crowd thinks I am one of their own.
There are no shops here, but it is still a busy market. The commerce takes place on either side of a road that leads to what is called the Kozhi Market (a wholesale chicken market in Broadway). The area is known as Maskan Chavady. Standing and squatting, men and a sprinkling of women line the road selling ducks, pigeons, budgies, cockatiels, African love birds, roosters, puppies, kittens, white mice and rabbits. These are some of the more common creatures at Maskan Chavady, but pretty much any animal can be brought and sold at this Sunday market (from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m.).
Attempt at history
I show an interest in homing pigeons, offered by Ravi at Rs. 200 a pair. When I try to beat down the price, he says his price is fair. Apparently, he keeps pigeons as a hobby, selling some to maintain the rest. When he reduces the price to Rs. 100 a pair, I tell him I am not interested. That I am a journalist looking for a story.
Ravi introduces me to 71-year-old Mohan, touted as the best bet to throw light on the market’s origins. But Maskan Chavady existed even before Mohan began to sell pigeons as a 10-year-old. As it turns out, he is not very informed about the market’s history.
The bazaar is sustained by the passion of pet lovers. Many travel long distances to be here. The traders take a lot of trouble too. Duck-seller Kumar pedals from Vadakkarai (beyond Red Hills) after ingeniously piling cages high on his cycle carrier. However, Nakeeran tops the list for enthusiasm. He can’t use his legs and with a cycle made for the handicapped, he travels slowly from Old Washermanpet to sell rabbits. And there is always someone new entering the fold. Rajkumar is just knee high to a grasshopper. But this boy has come (escorted by 17-year-old Elvis, his neighbour and ‘anna’) to trade in white mice today (at Rs. 30 a pair).
It is 8.30 a.m. and two hours of chatting and walking around is beginning to tell on me. I am badly in need of my morning coffee and something to chew on. For small change, Nagoor offers me a cup from the steel can he carries around on a cycle. And I depend on Samikanu from Korukupet for breakfast – gruel made from ragi. As pet lovers and traders leave home early, these mobile eateries do brisk business till the last man leaves.
I decide to buy myself a memento from Maskan Chavady. There are bird cages, which I will require shortly for a mini-aviary I have been planning for my little son. The one I take a fancy for costs Rs. 900, more than what I carry with me to the market.
I sit on my haunches and inspect a pile of catapults spread out on a cardboard. I end up buying one for Rs. 15 from Kumar, a gypsy who makes them using rubber meant for surgical appliances.
As I leave the market with this keepsake tucked in my pocket, I can’t help thinking, “This is interesting! Nobody knows when it started. Nobody can lay claim to any space. It is not controlled by rules, yet there is order.”
R. Narayanan, 50, sacrifices his weekends for work. He hardly spends time with his wife and children. A resident of Poonamallee, a western suburb, he travels as far as Vellore and Villupuram to pick up iron tools — nuts, bolts, knives, pickaxes, shovels and the like.
Every Friday morning, he comes to Old Trunk Road in Pallavaram, where he sells his wares collected during the past week at the vaara sandhai or weekly market, more popularly known as the Friday shandy (a corruption of sandhai). It has been a ritual for Narayanan for the past two decades to arrive early on Friday morning to the shandy, but the shandy itself has been in existence for 177 years now.
Started in 1836 during the Mughal era, the Friday shandy attracts farmers, sellers of old clothes, used home appliances and horticulturists from near and far, as much as buyers from all over the city and suburbs.
“I have been visiting the shandy for more than five years. Even if I do not get the flower saplings of my choice this week, the vendors make sure that I get it next week,” said T. Bhami, an architect. The range of goods on sale is mind boggling. From nails that come nearly free of cost to refrigerators, music amplifiers and even dentures — the shandy has something for everybody.
G. Selvam (30) and his wife Poongodi (25) sell catapults and ‘disco mani maalais’. While the maalais — or necklaces — come for Rs. 20 a piece, the catapults are priced between Rs. 30 and Rs. 40. The shandy attracts many members from the ‘narikuravar’ (gypsy) community, who sell bead necklaces and hair oil.
A huge hit among visitors is the large variety of ornamental and flowering plants. The horticulturists mostly come from Padappai, about 15 km from Tambaram. Used cycles in running condition can be bought for Rs. 800. Used cloth merchants are the first to come but wind up by 10 a.m. as migrant workers buy shirts and trousers at throwaway prices.
“The shandy originated during the Mughal Era when goat and cattle rearers came here to sell the animals to cater to the needs of the soldiers. Over the years, it diversified and now, a host of products are sold,” says S.P. Gandhi of Pallavaram Small Merchants’ Association.
The weekly shandy was functioning earlier along the Shandy Road near Cantonment Pallavaram High School. Owing to traffic regulations and other developments, the merchants were forced to shift to Old Trunk Road running parallel to the railway lines between Tirusulam and Pallavaram railway stations.
The merchants pay a paltry sum to contractors engaged by St. Thomas-cum-Pallavaram Cantonment Board for their shops, each of which occupies not more than 100 sq. ft. The atmosphere has to be experienced: if you have not visited the Friday shandy yet, you are missing something.
fish aquarium accessory : Lilly PAM Shopping Complex, New More Market, Railway Reservation Building, Park Town (Parrys) & Rettaiaeri Bus Stop, Kolathur,
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