Tangents
The Flower <i>Market </i>
Photo Ihtisham Kabir
Early one morning I find myself a few hundred yards east of the flower stores in Shahbagh. It is the wholesale flower market, supplying flowers to stores in the city and its outskirts. At this unlikely location - a covered area near the stairs of a foot overbridge - a colourful and fragrant scene unfolds before my eyes as the sellers hustle to show and sell their offerings while buyers sniff out the best bargains. Some buy only fifty roses; others fill up entire CNGs with flowers. I discover that the market has been around for at least twenty years. It starts at daybreak and continues until late morning. At its busiest, it hosts as many as a thousand vendors selling flowers and decoration items. I see about fifty types of flowers. The market's centre is covered by sensuous and exotic marigold garlands in shades of orange. It is the most popular flower, used as a wedding decoration. Along the edges of the footpath, large bunches of roses are lined up. Smaller flowers such as jasmine - which has several varieties - are sold in garlands. I ask the vendors where the flowers grow. I am told they are grown all over Bangladesh - Savar, Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Jessore - and brought here at four am. Off to one side, several women sit working with rajanigandha flowers. Interspersing the white flowers with roses, their garlands look elegant. Once a woman finishes two or three garlands, she gets up and walks around the market selling them. Then she returns to her seat to make more. I speak with Ayesha, about sixty, whose band-aid covered fingers swiftly work the needle, coaxing flowers into thread. “I started in flower business around Ershad's time. Before, I used to sell jasmine garlands as a vendor. But I started this work when I saw business picking up. I am my own boss and I taught all of them,” she says, proudly pointing to the other women working next to her. Another seller, Alam, asks me to take his picture. His nursery is in Narayanganj. He grows sixty types of flowers and produces year-round except for one foggy month in winter. He also grows seasonal flowers, including dahlias and cherry. Conspicuously absent from the offerings is shefali, a childhood favourite of mine. I am reminded that it appears during autumn. Shefali is popular during Puja, but a seller confides it is difficult to sell because it bruises and wilts easily. Bokul, also a subject of many childhood memories, is more robust and fares better. The market offers other wedding decorations, including Styrofoam signs, headdresses and green garlands made from rolled-up leaves. Asma sells the latter. She offers two varieties - dark and light, with debdaru and mahogany leaves - at five taka each. Ever the entrepreneur, she pays several women to make them and starts selling at the break of dawn. Imported flowers are not available here. But for me, the beauty and fragrance of our local flowers are delightful enough.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments