Santacruz Market Walk

- By Deepa Krishnan

A couple of days ago, I walked through Santacruz Market. It's great for photography, with lots of colour! There's a meat and fish market, a vegetable market, lots of spices and snacks, as well as fabrics and jewellery. I had only a camera-phone and I didn't really photograph everything in the market. But here are some photos of the food section.

Indoor market for vegetables

The fish market was nearby, with a busy looking kolin inviting me to check out the day's catch. There were a couple of men selling dried fish as well. 

Neatly slicing with her curved fish-knife

The meat market was gross as usual, dirty and bloody. I walked quickly past it. I think Mumbai customers should make more of a fuss about how the meat is displayed and sold. No wonder people are buying super-market meats! It was a relief to come out to the open street.

General street view: The awnings of the shops offer protection from sun and rain

Jalaram Stores, selling tea-time snacks

Pickle and spice shop

Leafy vegetables being arranged. The daily stock arrives in jute bags and is cleaned and presented on bamboo baskets.

Several spice shops sell fried stuff. This shop had a board advertising various types of fresh-ground flours. Looks like pasta is very popular in Santacruz!

As usual, the most fragrant thing was coriander.

The coriander stall also had fenugreek and mint, as well as chillies, garlic, lemongrass, fresh turmeric, ginger and amba-harad. I was very tempted to buy some amba-harad for pickling, but I had a deadline and lots of other work in the market, so I reluctantly walked away. 

The winter fruits were interesting too. They deserve a whole post of their own!

I'm definitely going back to Santacruz Market. Next time, I'll photograph the fabric markets and the little stalls that sell embellishments for sarees and salwar kameez.  And I'll see what else I can find. What a fabulous market it is. I think a new bazaar walk may be coming up!