Legend has it that a violin was stolen from Queen Victoria's luggage when she visited Mumbai in the olden days and was found for sale in a shop on Mutton Street, hence the name Chorbazar.
Mumbai is the financial capital of the country. It is known for many reasons. People of different languages from different regions live here. There are different types of markets in Mumbai. Those markets are known because of those industries. One such market in South Mumbai is Chorbazar. It is also known as Mutton Street. Legend has it that a violin was stolen from Queen Victoria's luggage when she visited Mumbai in the olden days and was found for sale in a shop on this Mutton Street, so the place is called Chorbazar. Almost five generations of mostly Muslim families have been running these shops.
This market is held every Friday from sunrise to sunset. Here you can find a wide variety of rare antiques, collectibles to modern China market items. You have to carry a lot of money with you while going here. Because if an item is liked and the money is short, there is no guarantee that the same item will be available next Friday or someone else will come and take it away.
Clothes, books, brass idols, electronic items, music records, gramophones, watches, old furniture, shoes, scraps, cars, motorcycle spare parts etc. are sold in this flea market. Many types of goods are available cheaply. Just for that you should be able to afford it. Also there should be information about those items. That means it will not be the turn to take the wrong product.
In this market, 10-15 years ago, the 'Padak' awarded to Hindi film industry nut Sohrab Modi with the 'Dadasaheb Phalke' award by the Government of India for his contribution to cinema, was also on sale.
If the record seller is a connoisseur of music, he knows the customer well, knows his preferences, takes his phone number and when he gets various types of records, he immediately informs that customer according to his preferences. For that, once you meet him above, he also keeps the customer's preferences in mind. When asked how these rare books, audio tapes, records come to be sold in the market, a vendor said that the old Parsi families in Mumbai are dwindling. Today's generation does not value what their forefathers could have accumulated. When they die, their children, grandchildren sell their collected things in junk, scrap, and we buy them. All goods here are not stolen.
The same applies to books. Old books on many subjects are available for sale. It is not possible to say which book will be available on which day. Sometimes volumes of Nehru's speeches, Gandhi's speeches published by the central government are on sale. Encyclopaedia volumes have also been seen on sale. Rabindranath Tagore's English poetry collection 'The Gardener' of 1920 has been bought for just ten rupees. The significance of that book is that it is signed by Rabindranath Tagore in green ink. Therefore, this book gained unique importance. But that seller didn't care. Pt. Ravi Shankar's English autobiography 'My Music My Life' was also for sale at a similar bookseller; But the salesman was a bookworm; Then he recognized the importance of the book and valued the book.
This thief market is the cave of Alibaba. One does not know how time passes when one enters it. Many types of
people come here. Foreign tourists also visit. So
a must visit for those who want a rare item!
(Supervisor of Language Directorate)