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Markets in Mumbai

Markets in Mumbai

Here, as in Delhi, you can buy practically anything, and often a lot cheaper than anywhere else in India. For an idea of what’s available and and how much it should cost, start at the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, 34 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Marg (tel 2022495), just up the road from the Taj Mahal Hotel. Although not as good as the main branch in Delhi, this fixed-price place stocks a wide range of regional crafts: silks from Kanchipuram, carpets from Kashmir, saris from Varanasi, marbiework and jewellery from Agra and Jaipur. Probably the best general buy is top-quality Bangalore silk—either as material or in sari form (from Rs500 to 20 000.). Opening hours are 50 am to 6.30 pm Monday to Saturday (closed Sunday). To compare prices and quality, there’s another good government emporium, Khadi and Village Industries Emporium, at 286 Dadabhai Naoroji Road. Gujarat Government Handicrafts Emporium, Khetan Bhavan, J.N. Tata Rd (tel 296292) has the best reputation for high-quality crafts—mainly silk, cotton, bright applique-work, brass and wood. Finally, before launching yourself into the high- street shops and markets, visit the shopping arcades at the Taj and Oberoi hotels. The Oberoi arcade is especially good for leather shoes and bags.

The old Crawford Market (5867), now renamed Mahatma Phule Market, is one of India’s best. Raw, bloody, vital and colourful. Travelling in by taxi, keep your window wound up. Once there, resist the attentions of persistent ‘guides’, and be on your guard against pickpockets. Crawford Market is essentially a fruit, flower, vegetable, meat and fish market, but you can find many other things too, ranging from toy dogs and screeching parakeets to heaps of old machinery bits. The favourite anecdote in nearby Chor Bazaar (Thieves Market) is that you can be sold spare parts from your own car.

Visit Crawford Market around 6 to 7 pm, when crowds are thinner and shopping more civilised. Inside the covered warehouse, you’ll find Hakimi Stores, which does a complete range of spices and curry powders: all the ingredients you need to reproduce good Indian cooking back home. Alternatively (and these make good little presents), you can buy small packs of ready-made curry powders. Just outside the covered market, Gulf Silk Centre, 406 Shaikh Memon St, is a friendly shop—very useful indeed for picking up small, attractive last-minute presents before flying home. Choose from a wide range of silk/cotton saris, shawls and bedcovers, and from a marvellous selection of aromatic perfumes and spices. Men can pick up cool, practical ‘Congress’ outfits here (kurta/pant sets), which double up as jazzy pajamas. Across the road at Chinubhai B. Shah, 346 Abdul Rehman St, you can buy the Congress hat to go with them. For making fabric buys into pants, suits, saris etc., try Mod Tailor at 408 Shaikh Memon St. This place also has some nice outfits for the ladies—traditional three-part suits (kameez top, churidliar trousers, plus dupata scarf) at reasonable rates. Again, very cool and practical. Buy cotton clothes and materials at M.G. Market, just right of Crawford Market. For marvellous jewellery and antiques, visit Zaveri Bazaar off Mumbadevi Rd; for brass and copper, the adjoining Brass Bazaar; and for smuggled goods, leather and curios, the aforementioned Chor Bazaar.

Bombay shops are generally open from 10 am to 7 pm daily although many bazaars and most shops in the Oberoi arcade stay open till 9 pm, except Fridays.

 

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