Chaos at Numaish

It's been three days since Hyderabad's pride Numaish was thrown open to the public. It is, however, still trying to find its feet. Of the reported 2,500 stalls, only half of them are operational and the rest are still under preparation. Unlike previous editions of the Numaish, there aren't any stalls from overseas this year. Though it was a Friday evening, the turnout was bleak. The stall owners are finding it difficult with the new rule that their vehicles should not be parked near their stalls. Though there were many personnel to man the parking lots, ironically, it was easier for two- wheelers to give the slip and park for free.

The city’s very own Numaish (74th edition) being held at Exhibition Grounds was a disappointment on Friday. Generally the event is a chock-a-block with people and visitors from all over the country flocking to see the latest wares on display and sale. While there’s hope that the exhibition would see more footfalls in the coming days, the mood on the first three days of Numaish was a dampener.

As soon as one enters the grounds, it is quite evident that most of the stalls still haven’t been put up. Many stalls are still under preparation. Not just the smaller stalls, the special attraction in this edition of the Numaish, the Hyderabad Metro Rail coach stall, would be thrown open to the public from January 8, as work is still underway.

Vinay, one of the convenors of the exhibition, said, “This is a regular pattern every year. Though we inform the stall owners to get their stalls in place much early, most of them wait until the last moment to do so.”

Speaking about the rental charges for the shops, Vinay said, “We have allocated the space on time. So they will have to pay up.”

In this edition of the exhibition, the fabric and upholstery stalls are a huge draw. “This kind of material is very hard to find and we have been waiting for Numaish to buy these fabrics,” said a customer at one of the fabric stalls.

No overseas stalls

The 73rd edition of Numaish saw a number of stalls from Pakistan. Though they left in the middle due to various reasons, these were the attraction back then. In this edition speculations were rife that Hyderabadis might get to see stalls from South Africa. However, those stalls never materialised.

Parking

Though the Exhibition Society had made plans well in advance for parking arrangements, it seemed to have reverted to its usual uncertainty. At gate number 2, there were at least six parking attendants who were keeping tab on two-wheelers that were parked. But as the saying goes, ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’, they themselves were confused as to who was responsible for which section of the parking lot. Due to this, it was seen that many motorists had hoodwinked the attenders and had left without paying their parking fee.

Vandalism is a form of vigilance

Before the exhibition began, it was made very clear to the stall-keepers and owners that they were not allowed to park the vehicles near their stalls and all the vehicles must be parked in the designated parking lots meant for them. To ensure that the stall-keepers stuck to this practice, one of the convenors would conduct a surprise inspection. During this inspection, the convenor would have close to 15-20 people along with him, all dressed in purple-safari suits. These volunteers would remove the rear-view mirrors or sparkplugs from the vehicles that were parked near the stalls. Their actions not only were tantamount to vandalism, the stall owners and keepers were later seen arguing with them for their authoritarian actions.

One stall-keeper of a Kashmiri fabric store said, “We bring our vehicles inside because it is difficult for us to carry our load from the gate to the stall. Now they have taken away our sparkplugs and are asking us to report to the Exhibition Society Office to get it back. It has become a hassle. We were trying to tell them that we would remove the vehicle but they refuse to listen to us.”