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Palika Bazaar: Rise and Fall - Story Through Ashokjee; Rakesh Kumar Singh
A Series of postings will now follow on one of the first media market that was researched on in this project. As mentioned in the introduction of this section, Palika bazaar is the center for pirated entertainment. This space was difficult to break into because of the inherent illegal nature of products that were sold here. The researcher had spent months trying to find a person who would talk about Palika. The excerpts here are part of one such interview.
"Kya janana chahte hain aap Palika ke bare me? Bas ye samajh lo bhai sahab ki sanjay gandhi dilli ko kutch de gaya ........ Aapko pata hona chahiye ki ye hindustan ka pahala under ground market hai. Lekin hindustan ke sarkari dafteron ke bare mein to aapko to pata hi hoga, ye
bharat sarkar ke adhikrit bhrastachar ke thikane hain. Aur yahi karan hia ki aaj palika ki halat bilkul khasta ho ho chuki hai. kai bar to aisa hota hai ki din mein kai kai ghante tak AC band pari rahti hai. Pharsh jagah-jagah se tute pade hain ......" said Ashokji in one go.
("...So what is it that you wish to know about Palika? Just remember one thing, that Sanjay Gandhi gave Delhi something before leaving. You would be knowing that this was India's first under ground market. You would also be familiar with the level of corruption in Indian Bureaucracy. So actually this is the only reason for its sad status. There have been so many days that for hours that AC's do not work. The floors are broken...") said Askok.
Ashokji, 45, is a shop keeper at Palika Bazaar. After a little pause he starts talking about the things with which the market deals in. "You know, when the market had come into exhistance, every one was crazy. People from all walks of life used to come here. Although it was meant for the
video and electronics goods, still people would get other household goods like cloths and carpets. Yes, Palika bazar was one of the few carpet markets in Delhi in the seventies and early seventies.
Till the late ninties and early seventies It was the most desired shopping center, especially for the tourists. Foreigners, particularly the Russians used to come in huge numbers for the knitwears. Basically, the Russians were directly involved in the knitwear trade with the palika
bazar. But after the disintegeration of the USSR, things changed. Now they have established direct links with the factories and export houses in Ludhiana, Punjab. And thus the Russian component is out from the market. As far as the foreigner of other countries are concerned, they
were otherwsie harassed so much that they would never really come back. Bargainig, push and pull with the coustomers and the ill behaviour of the shopkeepers forced the tourists to not look back again.
Rajeev, a book shop owner in the market, seconded Asko ji's view. Rajeev reieterated that, because we have neither any system nor the marketing ethics - it is free for all here, that so many problems started to be emerged.He exclaimed that, "You know, right now the number of unauthorised shopkeepers are more than the authorised. But I tell you, I will not give you the names because there is a rampant GOONDAGADI (Hooliganism)here. And the people who used to harass the customers have the patronage of those Dada Log." This is happening because of the corrupt NDMC officials,who've allowed the unauthorised shopkeepers to flourish
" You will find a person siting with a small counter in a corner of every shop with cheap electronic goods. You know, how much they pay for that ? Anything between four to eight thousand. Some of them pay 10 thousand or even more. And these are the persons, who have made the lives of coustomers miserable."
Ashokji told me that "Palika matlab vedio, CD. There is unlimited bargaining here, one can get a VCD for Rs. 150 while another will get it only in Rs. 40. So all this is based on one's bargaining capacity." Rajeev says, " almost every shop owner has his own recording unit. Where he makes recorings of VCDs and all. The total cost of a recorded VCD is not more than Rs. 25-30 for the shop keepers, which they
sell at huge price
"Kya janana chahte hain aap Palika ke bare me? Bas ye samajh lo bhai sahab ki sanjay gandhi dilli ko kutch de gaya ........ Aapko pata hona chahiye ki ye hindustan ka pahala under ground market hai. Lekin hindustan ke sarkari dafteron ke bare mein to aapko to pata hi hoga, ye
bharat sarkar ke adhikrit bhrastachar ke thikane hain. Aur yahi karan hia ki aaj palika ki halat bilkul khasta ho ho chuki hai. kai bar to aisa hota hai ki din mein kai kai ghante tak AC band pari rahti hai. Pharsh jagah-jagah se tute pade hain ......" said Ashokji in one go.
("...So what is it that you wish to know about Palika? Just remember one thing, that Sanjay Gandhi gave Delhi something before leaving. You would be knowing that this was India's first under ground market. You would also be familiar with the level of corruption in Indian Bureaucracy. So actually this is the only reason for its sad status. There have been so many days that for hours that AC's do not work. The floors are broken...") said Askok.
Ashokji, 45, is a shop keeper at Palika Bazaar. After a little pause he starts talking about the things with which the market deals in. "You know, when the market had come into exhistance, every one was crazy. People from all walks of life used to come here. Although it was meant for the
video and electronics goods, still people would get other household goods like cloths and carpets. Yes, Palika bazar was one of the few carpet markets in Delhi in the seventies and early seventies.
Till the late ninties and early seventies It was the most desired shopping center, especially for the tourists. Foreigners, particularly the Russians used to come in huge numbers for the knitwears. Basically, the Russians were directly involved in the knitwear trade with the palika
bazar. But after the disintegeration of the USSR, things changed. Now they have established direct links with the factories and export houses in Ludhiana, Punjab. And thus the Russian component is out from the market. As far as the foreigner of other countries are concerned, they
were otherwsie harassed so much that they would never really come back. Bargainig, push and pull with the coustomers and the ill behaviour of the shopkeepers forced the tourists to not look back again.
Rajeev, a book shop owner in the market, seconded Asko ji's view. Rajeev reieterated that, because we have neither any system nor the marketing ethics - it is free for all here, that so many problems started to be emerged.He exclaimed that, "You know, right now the number of unauthorised shopkeepers are more than the authorised. But I tell you, I will not give you the names because there is a rampant GOONDAGADI (Hooliganism)here. And the people who used to harass the customers have the patronage of those Dada Log." This is happening because of the corrupt NDMC officials,who've allowed the unauthorised shopkeepers to flourish
" You will find a person siting with a small counter in a corner of every shop with cheap electronic goods. You know, how much they pay for that ? Anything between four to eight thousand. Some of them pay 10 thousand or even more. And these are the persons, who have made the lives of coustomers miserable."
Ashokji told me that "Palika matlab vedio, CD. There is unlimited bargaining here, one can get a VCD for Rs. 150 while another will get it only in Rs. 40. So all this is based on one's bargaining capacity." Rajeev says, " almost every shop owner has his own recording unit. Where he makes recorings of VCDs and all. The total cost of a recorded VCD is not more than Rs. 25-30 for the shop keepers, which they
sell at huge price