JOIN USTreasure trove for old goods hunters
Visitors can find some rare used articles in the week-long fair near Kolkata. Abdul Gazi had put up his feet on top of a desktop computer after his day’s work. He managed to cut a good deal on an old Agfa camera and a slightly-broken gramophone with an enthusiastic babu (gentleman) from Kolkata. Gazi was happy to have made around Rs 2,000 for something most people would consider junk.
But then, that’s what Gazi’s trade is – selling junk – just like it was his father’s all his life and before that, his grandfather’s. The Gazis have been selling what most people would think of as junk for three generations. He does not remember how it came about but broken radios, old cameras, mixer-grinders, defunct television sets and now unusable
computers are all he knows. And he has quite an eye for all that people throw away.
In this trade, Gazi is not alone. Every year, around 300 stalls are set up at Mandirbazar in South 24 Parganas, around 30 km from Kolkata. What started as a gathering of people from the trade more than a century ago has turned over the years into a fair of junk goods.
As far as Gazi can remember, and at 73, he does that a lot, he has been coming to this fair with his grandfather and father, who also used to put up stalls. The fair, called Bhanga Mela in local parlance literally means the fair of broken goods. And it is
exactly that because of the goods that are on display and sale here. Held every year for a week from January 24 to 31, these days the stalls sell a lot of e-waste and used gadgets.
From a used mobile charger to a broken desktop computer, a defunct television set or a faulty printer, everything is available here. Rare finds would be an Agfa camera, a Remington typewriter, a gramophone or even a twin-lens reflex box camera. People like Gazi agree that this must be the only fair of its kind in India.
All stalls stack junk. On the fair’s penultimate day, Gazi was seen leaning against a washing machine, which had a stack of telephone sets on top. He rested his right arm on a pile of desktop CPUs and his other arm on an old-style radiogram, a gadget that has probably not been seen in the last 50 years.
“From a used mobile charger or an electric kettle to a washing machine, you will get everything here. Gadgets that have become obsolete are also common here. A lot of people who collect such goods visit the fair every year because they can get a good deal here, at much cheaper rates than any auction house,” pointed out Alok Bhattacharya, president of the Mandirbazar Block Byabsayee Samity, the local traders’ body. Every year some 300 stalls come up at the fair, while this year the number stood at 347.
Bhattacharya, a local resident for more than 50 years, noted that the Bhanga Mela must be at least 200 years old, where earlier only broken and torn household items such as furniture, clothes, shoes and kitchen utensils were sold. “Over the last decade, such items have given way to a lot of broken computer peripherals, defunct electronic goods and gadgets,” he said.
Rahman, a stall owner selling mostly broken domestic appliances like washing machines, ACs and refrigerators, said that stall owners like him collect these goods throughout the year to prepare for the fair.
“We collect these junk goods from households across Kolkata, Salt Lake and Howrah at throwaway prices and store them to sell at the fair every year. There are a lot of buyers for such goods,” Rahman said.
He pointed out that a lot of people strip these goods and use the metal parts inside, some use the plastic from the casings and others buy a slightly defective gadget at a much cheaper rate at the fair, get it fixed and use it for years.
“I sold a fridge with a crack on its door for Rs 2,000. The buyer will get the door fixed and use it. I sold a top-loading washing machine without the rotor inside. The buyer can easily get a rotor attached and it will be perfectly usable,” he explained.
While the customer range is vast and as varied as the goods on display, with most people buying stuff that they can get repaired and reused, much of the e-waste change hands because of the mechanical entrails that can still fetch a good price in the market.
“Computers have all kinds of metals inside, from precious ones such as gold and silver to others like cadmium, mercury and selenium. Most e-waste buyers dismantle these and burn the parts to extract metals. Items that make the internals of computers, laptops, printers and CPUs bring a good price in the open market,” Bhattacharya said.
While the fair has been going on unnoticed by the state pollution control board and NGOs, it recently raised a few eyebrows because of hazardous metals and chemicals that make internal parts of household gadgets, when broken down.
International NGO Toxic Link’s local chapter plans to raise awareness among the stall owners and handlers of such junk items on how to deal with the hazards.
Experts, however, are in two minds over the matter. Professor S K Ghosh of Jadavpur University, who is involved with various international projects on e-waste and its toxic nature, agreed that there is nothing illegal with the fair.
“Selling e-waste is not illegal in India. It is the method of extracting metals that determines the legality. Burning these waste items in a crude manner is illegal as it pollutes the environment,” Ghosh said.
Whatever be the opinion of experts, junk sellers at the fair, like Gazi and Rahman, are least bothered. They feel that unlike ‘hazardous’ professions like cleaning sewers or working in stone quarries, their trade is benign. And they plan to continue with what for most of them is a family tradition.