Crawford Market is the original market of Victorian Bombay - call it one of the most enduring (and endearing) images of the British Raj. On a bad day many an oldtimer in Bombay might feel like going for a stroll through the lanes of Crawford Market, picking up vegetables, fruit, groceries, dry fruit, assorted candies, crockery, festive decorations, party geegaws, cosmetics, lovely little knick-knacks in cane, maybe a suitcase or a backpack... not least of all a bunch of fragrant pink 'badami gulab', the roses offered at the shrines of Muslim saints.

Crawford Market (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Market in its comparatively come-lately new avatar) is heritage property with a capital �H�! Not for nothing is it on the itinerary of tourists, especially tourists of the European white category. Bombay history buffs will know these few details about Crawford Market: That it was designed by William Emerson in 1865 on the orders of Sir Arthur Crawford, the Municipal Commissioner of Bombay from 1865 to 1871.

Some more interesting details: This is a market designed with attention to fine interior and exterior decor. There's a sculptured panel ornamenting the high exteriors of the market at the entrance - it's said to be the work of John Lockwood Kiping, father of the India-born novelist Rudyard Kipling (whose books 'Jungle Book' and 'Kim' were a conversation piece in the drawing rooms of the �gora sahebs and memsahibs�). Kipling senior, was the municipal architect of the times of Bombay.

You can say Crawford Market has seen some history come and go. There are complaints galore about how the market has degenerated in modern-day Bombay, it's not well-maintained, it's filthy, it's acquired a lazy, gloomy environment. But it is still the market of South Bombay wearing a heritage halo, and a visit to the market is never quite wasted. As you walk in a notice up tells you: �Please do not spit. Smoking prohibited. Dogs are not allowed in the market. Visitors are requested to employ porters with numbered market badges.�

The market retains some of its colour and style! Outside the market these days one may see a group of women in Maharashtrian-style saree, before baskets of 'makai' or fresh corncobs. 'Makai' in one form or another and the pitter patter of monsoon rain complement each other, ask any Bomayite. If you're walking in with a list in hand several of the �porters� will come running to ask if you need some services in shopping... �Gaadi tak leke jayega memsahib�. (�I'll carry your shopping to your car, Ma'am�).

Dhoble & Co., established in '95, �Exporters & dealers in reality fresh fruit� have been there almost from the beginning that the store prides itself in seeking the most premier fruit 'hapoos' mangoes during the season, or apples and pears. Opposite is Empire, perhaps the only proper store at the market which has prices neatly labelled on each product. They've been around 25 years at least, says young Jayeshbhai, son of Nenshibhai, who started the store after taking over from an Irani owner, �We became a self-service store a in 1998.�

Crawford Market enjoys a certain reputation. For many years if you wanted anything special from abroad by way of Kraft cheese, Figaro olive oil, Italian oregano, Huggies diapers etc. etc. - you trotted to Crawford Market. It was the market where one could get 'phoren maal' (goodies from road) openly or on the sly. This was when the country's economy was restricted vis-a-vis consumer items and Crawford Market enjoyed the reputation of being the thriving smuggled goodies' paradise). With liberalisation, of course, 'phoren maal' is easily available in several shopping centres in the city and suburbs, prices are no longer as steep as they used to be - steep enough for those who could buy 'phoren maal' to feel they were privileged and superior to the common janata.

The stalls or shop-lined lanes rocked with imported goodies are still there, cheaper than anywhere else in the suburbs! At Crawford Cutlery Mart you may pick up all the disposal crockery and cutlery, paper napkins, you require for special occasions like picnics out-of-doors. The market fountain where Venubhai Vithal Morde (fruiters) is located must have seen better days, it's a pretty fountain, a pity it's no longer functional. This is quite in keeping with the scene of general deterioration and decay at Crawford Market.

There's Fantasy, and Reliable Shop where you get an array of beauty lotions etc. Women have been buying cleansing and astringent camphor lotion here for generations! How about a wig of natural or synthetic hair at Ayeshbee Ibrahim's �The Bald & Beautiful�? Vintage quality establishments these. Down the lane is Arife's for all kinds of bakeryware, and the couple of caneware shop with all kinds of cute wicker baskets, pots,trays, containers... (Visit the Indian Cane House and India Cane House, shop nos. 532 and 534 for �willowbasket, cotton mo, coir doormat, A/c filter, duster, broom, fancy cane baskets, bamboo chik, matting...�).

There's quite a few dry-fruit shops here: In case you don't know the best almonds in the world are the Irani Mamra badams priced at Rs. 760 to Rs. 900 per kg. depending on the quality, there's also kagazi badam (Rs. 340-380 kg).

Packets of Husaini figs, pistachios, apricots, raisins, black currants, prunes (prunes are being popular), walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, cashewnuts... more delicious and nutritious than all the boiled candies in the world! Patel Stores, Royal Dryfruit Range, Saifee Stores, Metro Stores where Raju makes a comment: �After the wholesale fruit market shifted to Vashi fewer people are coming to Crawford Market to buy!� As for the foreign chocolates, cheese, cookies, �Nowadays this stuff is everywhere and people no longer come here like they used to.�

Lucky Provision Stores (for �Crown� bakery powder, salad oil, icing sugar, citric acid, edible gelatine, active dry yeast), Raj Oil Trading Co., Asian Poultry, Shalimar Cold Storage, Empire Poultry (there for 75 years), Chick Nook (for Farm fresh broilers, chicken legs, breast, liver, wings, giblet), etc. etc. The first two lanes are dedicated to sundry and grocery goods generally speaking, says Najmuddin of Hakimi Stores: �At one time our masalas were cleaned and hand-pounded right here, foreign tourists used to come to buy the white and sarki masala (special for mutton and chicken), curry masala... but all this has ended.� Next door at stall No. 292, there's fist-sized Kashmiri garlic (Rs. 50 kg).

Then there are the vegetable lanes and adjoining them the fruiters' lane, a final lane for florists although at A. Abdulkaraim & Sons, the owner confessed the range of flowers at Crawford Market is limited now to �Gladiator� red roses, asters, crysanthemums, marigolds, lilies, badami gulab and fragrant herbs like sabja, tulsi, madwas... many flower shops of old have given way to the odd sundry garments, handbags and luggage shops!