- By Deepa Krishnan
On a rainy day, the wholesale flower market in Dadar is a great place for photography enthusiasts.
It is an indoor market, so you can walk around without worrying about getting your camera wet. Of course, you have to slosh through a messy floor, but the colours are so fantastic that it is well worth it.
The business is wholesale, and flowers are sold in bulk to wedding decorators and event managers. A lot of business is transacted over the phone (repeat customers, established relationships). But many people come to haggle and buy, especially when they need a lot of flowers. Also, small local flower-sellers in the city come here in person to buy their daily stocks. They buy not only flowers, but also the leaves that are used as wrapping, and thread as well, to tie it all together.
From the wholesale market, these flowers then make their way to local street stalls, to be fashioned into garlands or "veni" for the hair. I clicked this photo of one flower-seller at our local market, she was stringing a garland in the traditional way using her toes to hold the thread.
Isn't this veni gorgeous?!! Makes me wish I had longer hair, just so that I could wear this!
The best time of day to go to the Dadar flower market is early in the morning, when the flowers arrive. The stocks are freshly stacked, phones are buzzing, buyers are haggling and business is brisk. By about 9:00 a.m. the day's major business almost comes to a close, although there are many shops still open until 10:00 a.m.