The importance of Zaveri Bazar

It was 10 pm last October, the Saturday of Durga Puja. Zaveri Bazar, the little business hub within the business hub called Mumbai, was awake.

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We had just been to the rarefied environs of the Bombay Durgabari off Pedder Road. Nice swank festival, with air-conditioning and a lot of corporate promotions and branding all around.

The Durga Puja of the corporate honchos. Just - no crowd near the idols - the main hall was empty. Many were packed inside the auditorium next door, listening to a live programme of Bollywood songs.

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Zaveri Bazaar, our next stop, was different. The lanes and by-lanes - it took us a little time to find the place. A small hall inside a temple - that is where the Durga Puja was. Much smaller than the Durgabari. And was it crowded. Groups of people were constantly coming in and leaving. It was hot, humid and bustling.

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The festival of the jewellery-workers from West Bengal who have made Mumbai their home attracted bigger - far bigger - number of visitors. After all, Zaveri Bazar is an employment destination for the whole of India - a microcosm if you like.

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There were other celebrations on in the neighbourhood too - Navratri and an idol of the goddess in her various other incarnations. And there were people everywhere.

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The crowd, the paan shops and the chatter on the lanes made the place come alive, even as the main arterial roads of Mumbai went off to sleep.

As we left, I reminded myself I had to come back here - to find a hawala operator. Zaveri Bazar is also where one is directed to if one needs to send money abroad at minimum charges.

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That is what Mumbai is, a city through which money flows into the country and then throughout it. And the hub within the hub at Zaveri Bazar is a money distributor on its own. It is an employment generator too. It is a magnet. That is why Zaveri Bazar is an icon of Mumbai.

And that is why, almost every time Mumbai is attacked, these crazy, narrow, crowded bylanes - the business hub within the hub - are attacked, too. To send a message, not just to Mumbai but to the rest of the country.