Save Crawford Market from marauding builders
Food & Flavour
GARAM MASALA……. BY VIKRAM DOCTOR
GARAM MASALA……. BY VIKRAM DOCTOR
I HAVE rather lost track of whats happening with the Crawford Market redevelopment saga. Its of some importance to me, because the market is close to the Times of India building in Mumbai and I do a lot of my food shopping there. But there have been so many twists in this case: first the unveiling of the plan to tear down most of this historic market and build high rise buildings, facilitated by a highly dubious decision by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to raise FSI to 4; then the launch of a campaign to stop this; then half-hearted promises of a review; then the surprise intervention by the police who felt the buildings would be a security hazard for their HQ opposite; then the decision by BMC corporators to disregard all public concerns and approve the plan anyway… One of these days when I walk down to buy my basil and broccoli Im sure Ill find the bulldozers have moved in.
Which would be a tragedy and not just for Mumbai. The city has lead the way in heritage initiatives, and a proper redevelopment of Crawford Market would be a positive example for all the other markets like Bangalores Russel Market or Kolkatas New Market, which will surely face the redevelopment challenge soon. The land they stand on is too valuable, and with consumer shopping practices changing, were sure that developers are whispering into municipal ears that malls with supermarkets would make more sense there (since many developers own supermarkets thats an added incentive). Within Mumbai itself there are rumours that such arguments are being used to push the redevelopment of the citys other municipal markets, like City Lights in Mahim, Dadar near the station and Bandra gaothan market, none of which would enjoy even the minimal heritage structure protection that Crawford Market can claim.
But I think this emphasis on heritage is a bit misplaced, because its easy to misuse, as with the redevelopment plan, by keeping the heritage part as a pathetic façade to the new buildings within. And none of the heritage protections deal with the real problem which is how the spirit of the market is being destroyed anyway. In all the stories about the Markets future I have seen little discussion about how it is actually being used, by who, and what this means for its future as a functional market. No study has been conducted, to my knowledge, to explain what can be seen by anyone who actually shops there. Which is that the fruit, vegetable and meat sellers who remained as direct consumer retailers after the wholesale part of the market was moved to New Bombay are steadily being edged out by shops that seem to be selling mostly imported stuff garishly wrapped chocolates, candies, toiletries etc, all evidently imported by the containerload from abroad. Samar Gupta of Trikaya Agro, who has two stalls which sell his excellent exotic vegetables, tells me that hes constantly being offered higher and higher prices from people who want to set up more imported goods shops.
Who is buying all this stuff? Crawford Markets consumers used to come from across South Mumbai, but given the traffic chaos and lack of parking around it, few go there now, except from really close areas like Mohammed Ali Road and Kalbadevi, and theres a limit to how much imported stuff such very middle-income customers would want. Certainly the many tourists drawn to the markets historic character dont want it. Some may be bought by small retailers, with the Market serving its traditional wholesale function for them. But the margins with imported goods are wafer thin, which leads to the suspicion that these shops dont really exist to sell such goods, but as real estate plays by their owners. The imported stuff gets dumped there because it requires little effort to source and isnt as perishable as fresh food, so its an easy way to keep these shops going for forms sake. Meanwhile the fresh produce vendors must either sell out or switch to more expensive produce, like imported fruits or exotics like Trikayas, or traditionally high value ones, like Alphonso mangoes. Crawford Market is increasingly just an outlet for such high end produce, which further limits its function as a general public market.
Which is a problem from the point of view of food because how we buy is as important as how we cook it. Public markets have traditionally been places where vendors of a wide range of produce present their goods and consumers get to see, learn about and finally buy them. The super sanitised surroundings of supermarkets arent half as conducive to inspecting produce, learning how to tell whats good and whats new to you but maybe worth experimenting with. Supermarkets will argue that they also give a wide range, and some allow you to pick your produce directly, which is true. But they dont really give you the experience and advice that vendors can give you, nor are they particularly friendly to the small producers who often provide the real interest of public markets.
At Crawford Market I know the one shop which stocks candied peel for cakes, or the spice seller who has allspice (kebabchini) and other niche products, whereas in supermarkets Im dependent on their buyers who have little real interest in niche products. Supermarkets sometimes hype the homemade snacks they get from neighbourhood aunties, as a useful PR gesture to show their support for local producers. But the reality of their interest is better shown in the experience of Vijaya Pastala whose excellent fair-trade monofloral honeys I recently wrote about in this column. Following that Vijaya spoke with a large Mumbai supermarket about them stocking her honey, and she agreed to the higher prices and margins they insisted on. But then they insisted she pay a registration fee for each of their outlets of Rs 4,000 for every different variant she had, to compensate them for the cost of entering it in their computer system, they told her blandly. Given the many variants she has all the profits would have just gone into the registration fees and she dropped discussions.
Im mentioning all this not to knock supermarkets, which I use myself, but to point out where public markets with their looser systems can provide a useful alternative. Across the world old public markets are being reinvented as places where small producers and vendors can sell, consumers can buy, and also eat and relax in, with a combination of retail and restaurants. These are not fancy markets the whole point of their attraction is they tap into the energies of local communities, making themselves of value to people who live around, and by doing so also attract tourists and customers from across the city looking for something different. Los Angeles Grand Central Market is an example of this, a wonderful and not expensive place to get a great range of Hispanic food and produce.
Markets like this are also particularly good for the farmers that were constantly being told we need to support. For the last few years during mango season politicians from the Konkan have been setting up mango fairs in Mumbai where their farmers can come and sell directly, not just mangoes but pickles, papads and lots of other products they make. They get better margins and consumers get fresher products, so its a win all around. A year round farmers markets like this would be ideal for the organic produce that everyone pays much lip service to, and which farmers can easily get into producing (its automatically less expensive for them, since it requires fewer expensive inputs like pesticides), but which they arent doing for lack of a clear way to sell such produce.
All these social benefits might seem fine, but the BMC might retort that they still need to make money. But as an excellent report on public markets prepared by the New York based organisation Project for Public Spaces (www.pps.org) is at pains to point out, commercial viability is critical for such markets – otherwise even vendors dont take them seriously. The report outlines how such markets can be run in entirely commercial ways, but with added attention paid to producers, vendors, consumers and tourists all groups that matter to a city. I hope its not too late for Mumbais politicians to consider a future for Crawford Market not as just another officecum-mall, but a public market with far greater benefits.