Exchange market

Here you will see men and women haggling over the prices like in any other market. But if you listen more closely,you’ll notice that the sarees,skirts and shoes that are being sold,cost less than Rs 50. The catch? They are all second-hand.

More than three thousand sellers,buyers and re-sellers flock to this market in the wee hours of the morning and buy used goods here. Used sarees,jeans,shirts,shoes,chappals,mixer-grinders,lampshades,tape-recorders,record players,alarm clocks,telephones,mobile phones,washing machines,black-and-white television sets and much more is on sale here.

Saroj,30,who comes to sell her goods in the Raghubir Nagar market,says,“I’ve spent my whole childhood here. I used to come here with my mother all the time…it’s almost like a second home to me.”

But no one really knows when this market came into existence. Gauri Devi,60,a vendor from Chandni Chowk,says she’s been coming to this market for the last forty years.

But where do these vendors get the second-hand goods from? Sita,40,answers,“We go to houses and collect old clothes and give them steel utensils or glass jars…and other household items in return. Sometimes,housewives do not want anything in exchange,they just want to get rid of their old stuff,” she explains.

The buyers then buy the old clothes and gadgets and re-sell them in markets like the one near the Red Fort and Chandni Chowk. According to some sellers,who don’t want to be named,they wash,dye,press,stitch and repair these clothes and sell them in famous markets like Sarojini Nagar,Janpath and Lajpat Nagar. But mostly,the sellers recycle the clothes into other products. For example,old Banarasi sarees get recycled into cushion covers and wall hangings.

The flourishing market has helped many small businesses burgeon along with it. So,since the market is held so early in the morning,there are people who sell tea,bread pakodas and roohafza. There’s also a shack that sells datun (neem sticks that are used as tooth-brush),run by Kauaram,who sells them at one rupee each to the sleepy seller with bad breath.