Old City comes alive at night

There is more to Ramadan than fasting, iftar and social get-togethers. The festivities have a colourful glamour quotient to it and they come from the ever mesmerizing Eid shopping.

Participation in the run-up to the main festival is incomplete if one does not take a trip to the charming localities, at least once during the nighttime.
There is extraordinary rush after iftar, on any given day.

As a result, traffic snarls become part of life almost into the wee hours. It hardly matters whether one is out shopping in and around Charminar or if one is traversing through the other commercial markets at Mallepally, Mehdipatnam and Toli Chowki. It seems like none sleeps during the holy month.

With just two days to go, and the fasting month entering the last phase, Eid shopping has reached a crescendo. Crowded and dazzling markets, illuminated shops, qawalis blaring from hotels and eateries, the aroma of 'Haleem', hawkers calling prospective customers at deafening decibel levels, the razzmatazz that typifies the atmosphere combine together to make its an extraordinary spectacle.

The stretch from Madina to Charminar and the adjoining markets are packed with shoppers, which includes those coming from neighbouring States like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

If business activity revolved around dates, fruits, dry fruits, food items, groceries, skull cap, 'atar' and surma in the first 20 days, now people are splurging on clothes, footwear, bangles, jewellery, mehndi, crockery and household items.

Traders of dry fruits do brisk business while 'sewian' is in huge demand. While the Charminar area has been the epicentre of Eid shopping for decades, the activity has spread to other parts of the city in recent years. Nampally, Mallepally, Asif Nagar and the stretch from Mehdipatnam to Toli Chowki too see shopping till 'sehri'.

The volume of business, mostly in the unorganised sector, is beyond anybody's guess. Thousands of hawkers occupy the pavements setting up makeshift shops. The authorities too look the other way.

While the city has witnessed changes in the way people shop, with the onset of shopping malls and big stores, for many Eid shopping is incomplete without a visit to Madina, Patthergatti, Patel Market, Laad Bazar and other traditional markets around Charminar. A nearness to such magical midnight shopping is perhaps witnessed during the six-week Industrial exhibition.