In the heart of Indore, the legendary Sarafa Bazaar's night food market is safe as a long-standing dispute between local jewellers and the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) over the fate of Sarafa Chaat-Chowpatty was resolved on Monday, securing the future of this beloved culinary institution.
A century-old tradition is that once the sun goes down and the day's work of selling gold and silver is over, the narrow bylanes of Sarafa Bazaar transform into a food hub.
Jeweller storefronts serve as the background for a lively food heaven, with vendors offering a variety of local delicacies to a throng that swells with locals and tourists alike until late in the morning.
But this tradition was recently threatened when local jewellers, fearful for safety and the spread of non-traditional food stalls, put forward a suggestion to relocate the market.
But following a series of meetings with the IMC, a compromise was reached. The food hub will stay put in its original place, retaining its distinctive character and heritage.
After the meetings, an organisation of jewellers withdrew the demand to shift the Chowpatty somewhere else, but put forward a new set of demands -- remove shops selling Chinese-origin dishes like noodles and other foreign cuisines from the site and limit the number of outlets.
The municipal corporation formed a nine-member coordination committee to consider the new demands of the organisation.
Indore Sarafa Association president Hukum Soni told PTI, "It has been decided that Sarafa Chaat-Chowpatty will continue to operate from its original place in Sarafa Bazaar." The association has told the municipal corporation that shops selling Chinese-origin dishes like noodles and other foreign food items should be removed from Sarafa Chaat-Chowpatty and only shops of traditional dishes should be given space at the site, he informed.
Soni explained traditional dishes like 'bhutte ka kees', peas and 'green gram kachori', garadu (rare tuber cooked by frying which is served by sprinkling spicy masala and squeezing lemon), malpua and rabri (sweet items) are the identity of Sarafa Chaat-Chowpatty and there should be no place for Chinese dishes at the hub.
The food market, which currently has about 225 shops, operates in a lane which is barely 20 feet wide and half a kilometre long, he said.
"We have demanded from the municipal corporation that in view o the danger of a major fire from LPG cylinders used in cooking food, the number of Sarafa Chaat-Chowpatty shops be limited to 60 and an adequate system for extinguishing fire be ensured there," Soni stated.
Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava said after the meeting, "We will solve the problems of traders of Sarafa Bazaar through the coordination committee.
After the Shraddha Paksha (a period when Hindus pay homage to their ancestors), the traditional shops of Sarafa Chaat-Chowpatty will be seen in a beautiful, safe and disciplined form, he said.
Every day after 8 pm, as soon as jewellery shops close, Sarafa Bazaar turns into Sarafa Chaat-Chowpatty and outside these shops, food establishments start getting decorated.
This traditional market of taste remains open till 2 am and attracts a large number of local residents and tourists.
Historian Zafar Ansari said Sarafa Chaat-Chowpatty started during the reign of Holkar kings of Indore and its history is almost 100 years old.
Initially, milk and milk-based sweets were available there.
"Wrestlers from all over the city used to visit Sarafa Chaat-Chowpatty after their workouts. Later, the size of this Chaat-Chowpatty kept on growing," he added.
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