Bazaar: Neighbourhood Daily Market in Trivandrum
Cinematographer: Avijit Mukul Kishore
Duration: 00:30:54; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 48.494; Saturation: 0.087; Lightness: 0.283; Volume: 0.134; Cuts per Minute: 19.408
Summary: It is a document of the daily life in a neighbourhood bazaar in Trivandrum. It is all about the ordinariness of the everyday. The bazaar is not famous or specifically exotic (depends on the interpretation of exotic), it is not even a large enterprise. It is a daily market selling mainly flowers and vegetables. The city is known for its various temples. The early morning flower shops obviously cater to the devotees to these temples. Many vendors, specially the women, offer a meager ware. It is said that the economy of an area can be understood by the quantity of the merchandise sold by any individual in the market. By that logic this market paints a sad picture. But maybe it is too superficial to jump into such conclusion so easily. However, the visuals of women standing for hours with handfuls of petals to sell is a poignant one. Most vendors in this bazaar do not even have a stall but uses small baskets and gunny sacks. It appears to be a normal day at the market with the usual chatter and bustle. The people seem largely unconcerned about the video camera in their midst. It is quite a counter to the usual romantic exotica associated with the great Indian bazaars. Maybe the understated and non-exhibitionist culture of South India (as oppose to the pomp of the North India) too has something to do with this. It is interesting to note that the audio of the bazaar sometimes seems more animated that the visuals. On wonder then that the crew had spent considerable time recording the ambience sound. The bazaar was shot as part of a study of Indian visual cultures in bazaar, streets, shrines and homes. Shot by Avijit Mukul Kishore.
A neighbourhood daily market in Trivandrum, almost indistinguishable from a small market anywhere else in the country. Early morning. The bazaar is just warming up. It is the flower section. Trivandrum, capital of Kerala, is as famous for its temples and devout citizens as for its radical communismt beliefs. So early morning flowers for religious purposes is a busy proposition. In the roadside stalls the garlands are hung from the roof and petals are displayed in cane baskets. The predominant colour is white, yellow and pink. The customers are still few and far between. A statue of a local leader and a few a chain of political flags betray the location of the otherwise undistinguishable bazaar.
Trivandrum, Kerala
basket
bazaar
color
daily
display
flower
garland
green
market
mauve
neighbourhood
ordinary
petals
pink
religious purpose
road
stall
statue
white
yellow
Trivandrum, Kerala
Another section of the bazaar away from the main road. Women sell small quantity of flowers or loose petals. The meager merchandise is spread on a cloth on the ground and vendors stand in front of their 'shop'. Yet no customer can be seen. The women are mildly curious about the 'foreign' shooting crew as for these women people from Bombay are foreigners in terms of language, culture etc. The meagerness of their products are an indication to their economic status. One wonders whether they are local women or traveled a long way to reach the market. They look like non-urban people. But Trivandrum is not a metropolis. Rural ethos and agrarian culture co-exist with the urban milieu within a short span of area. So it is possible that the women come from a close by area. Close up some women – mild, slightly resigned, mostly content face of India. Some other women carry loads on their heads. The modest neighbourhood is waking up. The part of the bazaar, which sells meager quantity, has mostly women vendors. Whereas the more organized stalls with larger quantity which are situated next to the main road are manned by male vendors.
Trivandrum, Kerala
area
bazaar
bylane
capital
close up
customer
early morning
face of india
flowers
load
locality
market
meager
merchandise
modest
neighbourhood
petals
plants
shooting crew
vendors
ware
women
The section selling plants. Ambience sound recording. The women are involved in animated discussion, some men joined in. (Translation from Malayalam required). The market is warming up, so is the climate.
Trivandrum, Kerala
bazaar
chatter
early morning
green
market
modest
plants
sell
vendor
women
A woman wearing traditional Malayali attire in white sitting in front of her modest ware – few handfuls of petals. Next to her are long bunches of hey straws. Early morning light falls on them and on the thatched roof above, making the yellow of the hey shine. More ambience recording.
Trivandrum, Kerala
ambience
bazaar
cane
early morning
hey
lazy
light
market
modest
petals
shine
thatched roof
yellow
Back on the main road with stalls of flowers. Tiny umbrellas made of yellow flowers on display. These umbrellas are popular offering to the god in Kerala. Even the god needs protection from the sultry sun of the coastal region! More vehicles have started plying in – mostly bicycles and auto rickshaws, occasionally trucks and finally a private car.
Trivandrum, Kerala
bazaar
decoration
display
flower
god
main road
market
offering
religious purpose
stall
vehicles
yellow
A man clad in traditional 'Mundu' loads his scooter with some green plants and leaves. The vendor prepares a small bouquet for a customer. Suddenly appears a noisy truck loaded with plants and various leaf vegetables and some women and a few men. They are going to supply to other markets. Maybe they are the farmers from a nearby village. Some women cheekily wave at the camera. The cameraman gets impatient with the lack of action in the frame.
Trivandrum, Kerala
bazaar
bouquet
buyer
cheeky
customer
farmers
green
leaf vegetable
market
noise
plant
plants
supplier
truck
two wheeler
vehicle
village
Trivandrum, Kerala
Various shots of the flower stalls. A bicycle rider carries a row of cane basket inside the market. The stall owner rearranges his display. White, mauve, yellow, pink and green.
arrange
bazaar
color
display
flower
green
market
mauve
petals
pink
stall
white
yellow
A vendor sells green banana leaves. These are used as plates for lunch and dinner. He meticulously arranges the leaves and throw away the rotten ones. In a longer shot we see another man making piles by cutting the banana leaves into halves. The sound of diesel vehicles create a cacophony.
Trivandrum, Kerala
banana leaves
bazaar
cacahony
diesel vehicle
food plate
green
market
noise
sell vendor
Trivandrum, Kerala
Vegetable market. Stalls in a row selling cauliflower, brinjal, raw banana, pumpkin, cucumber etc. But it still looks like more sellers than buyers. Men carry various vegetable on their heads, most probably to deliver in the stalls. Ambience recording, so the camera just wonders around. A narrow bylane between two buildings. A loader walks through it carrying a heavy sack on his head.
bazaar
brinjal
cauliflower
cucumber
load
loader
market
pumpkin
raw banana
stalls
supplier
vegetable
vendor
Ambience sound recording. Rickshaws and trucks that carry the vegetables clog the small street. By now lot of customers have come in. A woman carries an aluminum basket full of dry fish on her head. The hanging tails of the tall fishes create further shadows on her dark face. The camera shows a close up of a rickshaw with oranges that look rather comically like they're jailed from behind the bars at the back of the vehicle. It could have a subject of an animation film.
Trivandrum, Kerala
bananas
crates
display
dry fish
fish
gunny sack
jail
market
mirror
oranges
playrick
rickshaw
road jam
shadow
telegraph wires
vegetables
vehicles
vendor
Another part of the market. Men bearing corrugated sheet metal enter what looks like a narrow hardware shop from the outside. The truck carrying the sheets parks itself and the camera lingers for a while on the sheets, catching the [morning?] light glinting off the dips and rises in the texture of the material. The effect is almost mesmerizing and is broken by the men lifting the sheet and taking it to the shop.
Trivandrum, Kerala
coils
coolie
corrugated sheets
glare
glisten
green
hardware
hoist
loader
metal
pattern
pipes
reflection
shadow
shine
shining
shop
smooth
sunlight
telegraph wires
texture
truck
waves
workers
Trivandrum, Kerala
We now see the shop as more of a long, tall shed. The men continue their to and fro journey to the back of the shed the roof of which seems to be made of the same corrugated sheet material. It is a typical application for this material – being used as a roofing material for all sorts of industrial spaces and it is also generally used in low cost housing, seen covering shanties all over India. However one associates it most with the ubiquitous tea stalls that function from a small space at the side of a small lane or a national highway. They cater to the nation's inexhaustible thirst for 'chai' and this highly identifiable space is created by simply raising corrugated sheet metal on bamboo poles with the paraphernalia of the tea stall exhibited in the front.
coolie
corrugated sheets
darkness
entrance
fevicol
gloomy
godown
hardware
lattice
lines
loader
material
metal
patterns
plastic
rubber slippers
shelter
shop
silver
street
sunlight
thud
visual
wooden truss
Lights come on to illuminate an otherwise gloomy interior space. The sheets are dropped with a loud thud, the only sound besides the general conversation. One can now truly appreciate the height of the shed which appeared so unassuming from the outside. Huge wooden trusses span the width to support the wooden framework of the roof, punctured with the occasional skylight.
Trivandrum, Kerala
corrugated sheet
crest
godown
hard ware shop
industrial
metal
rubber slippers
silver
skylight
stand
sunlight
texture
thud
trough
tubelight
turban
wood
The camera takes us through the shed, a very typical long affair with pipes stacked in the centre and corrugated sheets at one end, with the main desk typically greeting one as one enters. The doorway looks almost like a portal with the daylight flooding in through it. The thuds continue with the rhythmic coming and going of the workers till the sheets begin to be stacked upright. We see broken blurry reflections on the metal – of the lights, of the workers and of the neighboring green sheets. One can't help but wonder at the cacophony that will undoubtedly be created by the incessant Kerela rain on the iron. Especially since the much quieter plastic cousin of these sheets lies a silent spectator at the side of the shed.
Trivandrum, Kerala
blue
coolie
corrugated sheet
desk
frame
green
industrial
lattice
light
loaders
loft
metal
pattern
pipes
plastic
plywood
portal
reflections
rubber slipper
sacks
shelter
skylight
stack
thud
truss
turban
workers
A low angle shot, the sheet appears to glow as the light strikes it with its bearers shrouded in darkness.
Trivandrum, Kerala
coolie
corrugated sheet
darkness
fevicol
glow
green
hardware
hidden
lattice
loader
metal
pattern
plywood
roof
shadow
shroud
skylight
sunlight
truss
workers
Pad.ma requires JavaScript.
