Vegetable Market

from Research : Communities and Vendors of Old City, Ahmedabad

Paan

Rajnagar Market

The Rajanagar market in Khamasa, Ahmedabad is a 77 year old market consisting of 200 shops.

Vegetables are supplied to The House of MG by three vendors in this market — Ganeshbhai Prajapati supplies masala that includes mint leaves, coriander, ginger, chilli, Jesaji Prajapati supplies green vegetables and Prakashbhai Prajapati supplies tomatoes.

Ganeshbhai

Ganeshbhai has been supplying vegetables (masala) to The House of MG since the past 10 years, since he opened his shop in the market.

The son of the previous owner of the shop, Dineshchandra Chunnilal, was an engineer who had worked with Abhay Mangaldas and so he had been supplying vegetables to The House of MG. When Ganeshbhai took over his shop, he started supplying the vegetables. He sells only masala and no other vegetables in his shop, which he runs along with three other people.

Ganeshbhai and Jesaji’s shop

The shop beside Ganeshbhai’s shop is owned by Jesaji. He has been supplying green vegetables to The House of MG for the past 13 years, since he opened his shop.

Like Ganeshbhai, the previous owner of the shop supplied the vegetables to The House of MG and so through his contact Jesaji now supplies them. He sells only green vegetables in his shop, which he runs along with four other people.

Jesaji

The two shop owners are related but they believe that “sabandh sabandh ni jagyaye ane kaam kaam ni jagyaye” i.e. the business and relation separate. (They have an understanding and so they do not sell the type of vegetable the other sells and if the customer requires the vegetable, they buy it from each other.) Their shops opens at 5:30 in the morning and closes at 7:00 in the evening.

They buy the vegetables in wholesale from APMC (Agricultural produce market committee) market in Jamalpur. They go to the market in the morning and buy the vegetables according to the quality and grade requirements. Their vegetables are sent from the Jamalpur market in loading rickshaws or pedal rickshaw.

They bring all qualities of vegetables — A, B and C grade, A grade being the best quality, but they send only A grade quality vegetables to The House of MG. They believe that since The House of MG uses the best quality vegetables they serve “ghar jevu khavanu” i.e. food that is like a home-cooked meal.

Prakashbhai

Prakashbhai has been supplying tomatoes to The House of MG since the past 8 years, before which his elder brother used to supply the tomatoes. He used to supply the tomatoes since Agashiye opened but he passed away and so Prakashbhai took over the task.

He only sells tomatoes at his shop by order and does not sell them in retail. He used to supply 300-400 kg of tomatoes to Abhay Mangaldas’s house for making purées for exporting outside and so when Agashiye opened he supplied to the restaurant as well.

He buys the tomatoes in wholesale from APMC Market in Jamalpur. He goes to the market everyday, when the trucks arrive at the AMPC Market with the tomatoes from all over India, and selects the tomatoes himself. Each truck contains 10 different qualities of tomatoes and buys mixed quality according to the requirement of the customers. He sends the best quality tomatoes which come from Nasik, Maharashtra. He brings the tomatoes from the APMC Market to his shop in a tempo rickshaw.

His shop opens at 5:00 in the morning and closes at 1:00 in the afternoon.

He has also given a key of the shop to the tempo rickshaw driver so that if he is not present, the driver can drop off his ware in the shop. He borrows the crates from his suppliers and returns them once they are empty.

Prakashbhai’s shop

Transportation All three vendors send the vegetables to Agashiye together, everyday between 8:00 to 9:00 in the morning in a pedal rickshaw, according to the order placed the previous night.

Initially, the purchase manager at The House of MG, Manishbhai, used to go to the market himself for the purchase but now with the advancement in technology, the order is sent through WhatsApp. Manishbhai still goes to the market twice a week for quality check.

The vegetables which start to rot are collected at the end of the day and are disposed off and collected by the AMC garbage truck between 5:00 to 7:00 in the evening. Some of the vegetables which is are not entirely rotten are sold to owners of low-price Dhabas (restaurants).

Mahalaxmi Market

The Mahalaxmi market in Paldi, Ahmedabad is a 12 year old market consisting of 62 vegetable shops and 11 fruit shops. In the place of the market, there was a bungalow before. The owner of the bungalow then decided to break down the bungalow and make the market complex. Most of the vendors in the market are from Rajasthan. Asitbhai Patel owns a shop in the market where he vends potatoes, onions and garlic and, in summer, he also sells katri (dried potato chips). He has a retail store and he also delivers vegetables to a few hotels but he does not provide home-delivery.

He has been supplying these vegetables to The House of MG for the past 10 years. The account officer at The House of MG, Dhirenbhai, recommended him because of the good quality of vegetables he supplies.

Asitbhai

Asitbhai’s shop His shop opens at 6:00 in the morning and closes between 7:00 and 8:00 at night. He runs the shop along with two other people. Even though his shop is in a different market than the others, they know each other. This is because the vegetable community is a tight knit.

He buys the vegetables in wholesale from APMC market in Jamalpur. He goes to the market at 8:00 in the morning and buys the vegetables according to their quality. The vegetables of all the shops are brought from the Jamalpur market in tempo rickshaws. The potatoes are from Nasik and Khatiyawad and the garlic is from Madhya Pradesh.

Transportation

Transportation

Delivery of vegetables at The House of MG

He sends the vegetables to Agashiye, every alternate day between 8:00 to 9:00 in the morning in a pedal rickshaw, according to the order placed on call.