Me and Zainab Market

My office is near Zainab Market. It’s a 3 min walk away. Almost every day I go down from the 6th floor to the ground. It’s usually in the evening. I take a stroll and observe people—the bickering shopkeepers. The crowd is too conforming on the footpath. I sometimes walk on the road to avoid that.

The mouth-watering smell of food is around. This is all street food by the way. It’s prepared in the most unhygienic manner. But the taste and the aroma are unmatched.

There’s the egg burger stall. The stall is built as if it will be taken off by the police at some time. It’s in the open. The frying pan is large. You could put a whole goat over it. The oil boils carelessly on it. It flies here and there. You stand too close and it could give you some serious burns.

The owner uses the giant pan as it doesn’t him at all. He slides down buns with his bare hands and plays with the eggs as he breaks them down. He is the frying pan maestro.

A few steps forward in the same line are more untidy stalls. They sell Samosas and rolls and French fries and corn.

A few steps backward and you spot a fruit chat wala. He sells two versions of it: one with the cream and the other without it. Both have distinctive tastes. I prefer the one with cream though.

Many families frequented the Zainab market in the 90s. I could still recall it. Back when I had no sense of the roads and the ways. My relatives would bring me here to buy shirts. Some things are different now. Zainab market has now some brimming competition.

Markets next to and closer to Zainab have gradually taken the spotlight. They are taller. Unlike the Zainab market, they have more floors for the shops. Zainab market, unnoticeable at first glance, sits between them silently. It’s like there’s a slime of tall men and you spot a shorter one tucked in between.

Unlike many places in Saddar, the market is not a British Era building like many others around the block. Somewhere on the internet says it was built during the 70s. It is not that old. But it is old enough to stop by and observe if you’ve ever been to in your childhood.

The building does not come under the attention of the city’s heritage department, because its not that old. At the same time, it is not appreciated as something modern because it is too simply built without noticing heigh, fancy curves, or interiors.

But tt’s old enough to give you some sense of nostalgia. It’s old enough to recall the times that were good and innocent.

I walk past this market to get a breath of fresh air. It helps me think and observe and get out of my computer desk. It’s overall refreshing.

Years back I had this thought that true creativity is born in solitude and silence. I no longer believe this. The more you get out, the more you observe people, and the more you hear their stories and see what’s going on around you, you’ll start having ideas.

When I walk near Zainab market to refill my bowls of ideas and inspiration. To learn from the lives lived by others around me.

When I was in my early teens, I would feel joyous at this market. I was an introverted kid with not many friends in childhood. Visiting Zainab market with my family would refresh me. It made me realize that no matter how different you are, you always have a mom and dad who would take you to places and buy you some fancy clothes.

The market alleys, whenever I visited them, were teeming with life. So many options of clothes would fill me up with joy and I would hold my mom’s hand, thinking she was the beginning and the tipping point of my world. Even today I recall those moments with my mom. That’s how Zainab market is etched into my treasures of memories.

I’ll always love this place. It’s people and the life that thrives every day.