Aroma of ‘gur’ diminishing in 137-year-old mandi

Rachna Khaira.

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 12

The 137-year-old traditional ‘Gur Mandi’ in the city, locally known as ‘khandsari’, has been the center point for the jaggery trade in Doaba region of Punjab since long. Punjab known for its traditional ‘gur di chah’, ‘gur de chaul’ and ‘gur di panjiri’ used to be the largest consumer of jaggery across the world.

However, with the ‘cheeni’ culture taking over gur in the last few years, the market started diffusing its aroma with that of the ‘cheeni’ and also the market was flooded with other essential commodities like bamboos, brooms, organic ropes (locally known as baans, jhadus, bagar, respectively) that were transported from eastern parts of the country (present day West Bengal and Bangladesh). As a result, the present-day Gur Mandi is the amalgamation of ‘khandsari’ (sugar related) products and the ‘bansa bazaar’ (Bamboo market).

Naresh Gupta, president of the Gur Mandi Traders Association, and also the fourth generation trader, the traditional mandi is around 137 years old. “There used to be a time when the wholesale merchants from different parts of Punjab, especially Kapurthala, Bhogpur, Adampur, Phagwara and Jhandu-singha would pay frequent visits to the market. They would take away gur (jaggery) in bulk and numerous trucks used to wait for hours for their turn,” recalls Gupta.

However, he informed that due to cheeni culture, the market has lost its sheen. “Who would like to consume jaggery these days? Now people ask for it, occasionally. Just for a change of taste. Now, they depend completely on sugar – almost certainly. The major chunks of customers, who still come to us, are the village baniyas, who buy sugar in bulk, but rarely do they come for jaggery nowadays. But you know still we call it Gur Mandi, not ‘cheeni mandi” and he bursts into laughter.

Although around 10 years back, the traders introduced kirana wholesale, along with that of the jaggery and sugar. But with the Indian retail industry going through a series of entries from the big players, its impact is being felt by almost every commodity. According to Deepa Gurwala, the entry of retails giants in the city has no doubt changed the shopping habits of the people to some extent, but still a fraction of old customers like to visit the market, because they are used to the way they have been shopping.

While in contrast to this, Surinder Singh, another trader said, “There is certainly a decrease in the foot fall in the market for buying sugar. People now prefer to buy it from the nearby retail outlets, where they can get everything in an organised form under one roof itself,” said Singh. He said, “Around 80 per cent of the buyers are wholesalers from nearby villages, who come here to buy sugar and bamboos. There is only a small minority of buyers, primarily the local people who do come for traditional products ranging from jaggery, bamboos and brooms in addition to rather modern versions i.e. sugar and plastic wipers,” said Singh.

The demand for jaggery has shrunk to 0.1 per cent of what it used to be three four decades ago. According to a shopkeeper, “My father used to sell 2,000 tore (I tora = 40 kgs) of jaggery everyday. But the substitution of Jaggery by sugar has made the daily demand of Jaggery to shrink to less than 2 tore a day.”

Even in the era of tough competition with sugar, the market still manage to exist due to generations’ old relation giving way to the credit facility. Secondly, the market offers numerous variety of jaggery which is not available in any of the super market all together. “Although, the market only offers plain gur, one can get different varieties like jaggery with sauf coating or hing (good for digestion) on order. Also, the market offers numerous varieties of jaggery for animals (sub-standard product) and jaggery with other ingredients of medicinal value,” said Rakesh Arora, a wholesale buyer from a nearby village. He also informed that demand for the jaggery comes from foreign countries like UK, Canada, USA, Saudi Arabia, Australia, etc and especially the NRI’s of Punjabi origin, settled across the globe, often miss the taste of Punjabi jaggery.

When asked about other civic challenges, the shopkeepers unanimously raised the issue of the congested space and the parking problem in the market. “Sewerage problem and non availability of public toilets are other important demands,” they said.

Shopkeepers here have very little idea on what would be the future of the market. The only thing they anticipate is some kind of help from the government. But more than that, they feel that it is only the customers who can decide their fate. Their interests and taste is what derives any market. There are still many buyers who love to visit Gur Mandi, because the place still captures their childhood memoirs. Certainly, they feel that the aroma of place is diminishing rapidly. How long will the magic of aroma work? After all it is just a matter of one more generation to pass through.