SATURDAY morning, 7 o�clock or thereabouts, a certain madness sets into Ratnagiri as housewives and men of the house get up early and make a dash for the �Athawda� bazaar near the old ST bus-stand there. Athawda means weekly. And this is a weekly bazaar that has been going on here for the past ten years or so. There�s nothing official about it, of course, but the Athawda bazaar is encouraged by the

authorities. The municipality comes in on Sunday to clean up the place and return the area to its somewhat less than pristine glory of before the Athawda bazaar. The bazaar is held, like a flea market on a Goan beach, once a week on Saturday. This is a good day for a bazaar because most people shop for the entire next week here. And they get an opportunity to bump into old friends and gossip. It is not as if Ratnagiri does not have its regular markets. Most housing colonies have a small bhajiwala outside that caters to the residents. And on Nachane Road in the city, on a smaller scale than the Athawda bazaar, fruit and vegetable vendors run a small market on Tuesdays.

Besides which, at the Athawda bazaar venue on week days, Ratnagiri�s �Maamis� in their half-Navaris (nine-yard sarees) sit on the footpaths and sell veggies and fruit grown locally. Whatever is in season, and whatever quantity they have, is put up for sale. It could be anything from firewood to jackfruit. These Maamis don�t do business by Maamis don�t do business by weights but deal in portions. They don�t understand kilos and litres. Everything is a �wata� measure here. The Athawda bazaar goes on all day. The vendors come with fruits and vegetables and other consumer items from all the small villages in and around Ratnagiri. Some come from as far as Sangli and Miraj in trucks, driving overnight for five or six hours, so as to be early at the Athawda bazaar with their produce.

The Maamis don�t come on out Saturday. This day is meant for serious, big-time shopping. When everything is sold by weight. When people come for �imported, exotic� vegetables and not the local greens grown in the backyard of the Maamis� homes. And where the bhajiwalas have fixed spots and fixed customers who enjoy their weekly bargain with them. Everything is garden fresh. And the variety is vast and complete. Not like the small Tuesday market on Nachane Road. Vegetables and fruit are the big draw at the Athawda bazaar. And spices. The bazaar has any number of vendors with their spices in big sacks and in small watas.

One small section is segregated, perhaps because of the smell, for the dry-fish sellers. These are all generally women. And though Ratnagiri is a coastal city and has a jetty where fresh fishbe bought daily, there are several takers for the dry-fish here. This too is sold by the wata, not the kilo, and the fish vendor has measures made of brass and wood to sell the dry-fish.