Id shoppers make a beeline for Meena Bazaar in Mysuru

Meena Bazaar on Sawday Road in Mysuru comes alive ahead of Id.
| Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram

As one heads towards Meena Bazaar on Sawday Road in the city after struggling to find parking for two-wheelers near Kantharaj Urs park in the vicinity, you are greeted by pre-recorded messages from a loudspeaker affixed to a pushcart in one of the bylanes selling footwear, challenging e-commerce giant Amazon to match their prices.

In view of the huge response to the Ramzan Mela at Meena Bazaar over the years, merchants have started occupying the bylanes leading to the mela with their pushcarts and makeshift kiosks to sell their wares. One has to pass through the crowds milling the bylanes that have become narrower with merchants spreading their wares, ranging from steel utensils to trinkets and belts to skullcaps, along the edges of the road.

As is customary during Ramzan every year, Meena Bazaar on Sawday Road has come alive this year too with an array of garments, footwear, skull caps and other accessories, drawing a large number of shoppers to its decorated and colourfully-illuminated shops ahead of Id.

Meena Bazaar on Sawday Road in Mysuru comes alive ahead of Id.
| Photo Credit:
M.A. Sriram

With Id approaching, the number of visitors to the shopping destination is only increasing, particularly in the evenings. The shopping stretches well into the night, but entry of vehicles on this stretch of road is blocked by evening.

Most of the shops on the stretch appear to have been renovated with fresh and attractive interiors and colourful lighting to attract the customers. While pre-recorded messages beckoning the shoppers have become commonplace, a few merchants still rely on positioning their personnel outside the shop to invite customers inside.

Salwars, sarees, scarves, stoles, kurtas, footwear, trinkets, dark glasses, skull caps, belts, handkerchiefs, perfumes, and henna, are among the items sold along the stretch of Meena Bazaar during the shopping season.

A public address system installed on the stretch keeps reminding the shoppers to be careful about their purses, mobiles, wallets, etc. Volunteers have also been posted in the area to manage the crowds.

Ramzan and Ugadi Mela

A statement from the Meena Bazaar Merchants’ Association said the Ramzan Mela is being organised at Meena Bazaar for the last 41 years and this year the association was organising Ramzan and Ugadi Mela 2025 from March 10 to 30. The Ramzan and Ugadi Mela is meant to celebrate the festival of both communities as merchants from different parts of the State had come to sell their products, it said.

While the stretch of Sawday Road from Ashoka Road to K.T. Street has transformed into a shoppers’ paradise, the stretch beyond K.T. Street is a foodies’ delight with shops and kiosks drawing people with a variety of sherbets, kebabs, samosas and other Ramzan delicacies. This stretch, however, is swarming with people just before sunset when the devout break their fast.