At the crack of dawn on Friday, vendors file into the ancient precincts of Mapusa market, carrying everything from farm fresh vegetables to decades old souvenirs. By breakfast, Goans are already browsing and bargaining, greeting and gesturing with the playful wit they wield so well.
Mapusa market first finds mention in a Dutch chronicler’s notes in 1580 as the ‘Bazaar Grande’, but it has been bustling with bargains since antiquity, bolstered by its proximity to the Bodgeshwar Temple. The town derives it name from the legendary market – ‘maap’ refers to ‘volumes of measure’ and ‘sa’ means ‘to fill’.
On any given Friday, farmers are holding up greens for inspection, matriarchs trilling out the price of fish and spiced Goan sausages or ‘chouricos’; peddlers try to catch the bedazzled eye with trinkets while fruit-sellers cut ripe polmelos for tasting.
In the fringes alongside the bakeries, feni and mass-manufactured clothing are sold at throwaway prices; cashew and spices are piled high on wood tables, and dried shrimp fall like sand through the heavily-veined fingers of fisherwomen.