Gone with the wind

The Oshiwara antique market started with just two shops and later sprung into a bustling arcade. Today it comprises around 60 shops that cater to different antique tastes. During the Seventies, Oshiwara market was more of an antique gallery. That was the time when when real estate boom changed the face of old buildings and bungalows in Mumbai. As a result, antique furniture from many an old residence came into this market. Initially, there were few takers for these works of art. But as soon as foreign tourists started visiting the place in search of antique pieces, the eyes of local wealthy also turned to it.

This is history and everyone knows it 8212; at least the residents of Jogeshwari. Any old shopkeeper from an antique shop here can share these memories with you. But for that you must show interest in antiques lying around in every corner of his narrow shop. Whether you buy or not is not the point. An interested customer holds more importance. If you show curiosity, he will tell you thehistory of the piece and a buyer will be born. But the thought that troubles each one of them is whether they8217;ll be able to sustain themselves for long or not. With plush state-of-the-art furniture shops coming up in the market, veterans feel their days are numbered here.

Wadhia Old Timber Mart is one of the bigger shops in Oshiwara Market. Owner K H Wadhia has some interesting anecdotes to narrate: 8220;Previously, we were dependent only on foreigners. Then came a period when the number of local customers increased. About 75 per cent customers were local. Though all of them were not art connoisseurs they appreciated the beauty and grandeur of these pieces. Many customers demanded original items,8221; he recalls. But that8217;s when the decline began.

Sources of purchase of these antiques is not a trade secret for Wadhia or any other shopkeeper here. 8220;Whenever auctions of old properties are held anywhere in the country, our representatives make it a point to reach. Or even when someone declares sale of his oldproperty. Most of the old furniture comes from Gujarat, West Bengal and Maharashtra. While selling the furniture, or any other such item, we fix the price according to its cost, which is why the prices here are much less than any upmarket antique shop.8221;

On the other hand, Shabbir Khan, a young shop owner is not ready to use the word antique8217; for artistic items in his neatly maintained shop. While unfolding the myth of antiques8217;, Shabbir said: 8220;The word should be used for things really rare. In our business, if that item is at least a hundred years old, we call it antique. But here in this market you cannot find this type of antiquity. We are selling goods, which are not more than 40 to 60 sixty years old. This, when touched up by expert carpenters, is made to look antique. Still people don8217;t realise the worth these days,8221; he rues. Not even in Chor Bazaar will you find such furniture made of seasoned burma teak or rose wood. Sometime there8217;s rare African wood furniture also.

And all this will soondisappear. 8220;In the wake of completion that we are facing from those who have shifted to sleek plywood furniture, we might lose business. Eventually we8217;ll have to close down or do what the rest of them are doing,8221; complains Hamidullah Khan, who is assisting his brother Raziullah Khan at Saba Furniture Mart.

What these shopkeepers don8217;t realise, he says, is that antique furniture can survive for another hundred years. 8220;It8217;s expensive, yes. But trying selling a ply wood piece after five years. You won8217;t get more than Rs 100. Antiques are here to become only more precious,8221; he says.

With the danger of soon getting lost in history, people still throng the market on Saturdays and Sundays. Jayraj Salgaonkar, a businessman and art lover is one of the frequent visitors to this market. Along with his wife and two daughters, Jayraj comes here regularly, at least once every month. So his house is full of old furniture and antique pieces bought from this market.

8220;I like buying stuff from Oshiwara because hereyou get genuine items at reasonable price. Like big antique shops they never charge unbelievable rates,8221; he says. And if you develop friendship with the owner then you can get to see new products sooner than others. Even film producers and ad film makers visit the market regularly, shopkeepers claim.

Soon all this will be a thing of the past. And who8217;s to be blamed for all this? No one but shopkeepers, who, in a bid to keep pace with the changing times, are preferring to do away with generation-old business. Little do they know that their fate is in their own hands.