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For a hopelessly poetic soul like me, antiques have always held an irrevocable charm. Perhaps because it’s the way the old and new collide in the stillness of an object. Or maybe it’s their abandoned and orphaned fate that makes antiques a perennial storehouse of novel stories when they are passed from one caretaker to another. What is even more rewarding is when you must rummage through junk to find these glorious pieces, a needle in the haystack, where what you discover is up to fate.
Incidentally in Mumbai, whether it’s the flea markets of Hill Road and Colaba Causeway or the legendary Antique Market of Chor Bazaar, there are many such spots for the alternative shopper to strike gold. Even the the lesser-known Antique Market of Oshiwara- where through pieces of light and furniture time dances in and out of years gone by-there’s a world of antiques waiting to be discovered. So we decided to explore it, in the hope of finding memoirs from a different time, statement pieces that won’t break the bank, and pieces infused with personality.
How To Get There
Take a train from the Western Line to Jogeshwari station and then fire up your GPS. You’re looking for a shop called Saba Curious which marks the beginning of the market’s trail. A rickshaw from the station to the shop will cost you Rs. 50 at the most.
Vintage Lights And Mysterious Beer Mugs
Unlike the maze of Chor Bazaar, with shopkeepers selling their goods and wares on pavements in flamboyance, Oshiwara Antique Market, is rather quiet, especially on a Thursday afternoon. It consists of a straight road with ordinary looking shops that sell extraordinary pieces.
What attracted me to the first shop, Saba Curious, was a rickety looking wooden cupboard with glass doors that showcased brightly painted knobs, in intricate floral designs, reminiscent of a bygone age. On inspecting it closely, I found that it looked like it had been recently painted! “They are copies of antiques made from Faridabad,” said 56-year-old Razi Ullah Khan, the burly owner of the shop.
“So you don’t sell antiques?” I asked a bit disappointed.
“Nobody does,” he said laughingly with his small eyes twinkling from his leather-beaten face. “Antiques are too expensive for people to afford. We store the real stuff in our go-downs for the serious buyers. Here I have goods from the antique making-industries and a lot of old stuff, which is under ninety-years or so,” confessed Khan.
As I entered the shop which was a mesh of towering Chinese ceramic vases, decadently carved brass boxes, lamps that had walked out of fairytales mixed with bizarre looking show pieces out of B-Grade horror films–the nature of their authenticity did little to hamper their charm. However, the real treasures were the vintage lights, stocked at the far-end of the narrow, rectangle-shaped shop. Sizeable beautiful pieces, they will become the centre of attention in small homes, with the power to completely transform the ambience of a space. These were some of my favourites, which were priced at Rs 3000 each.
White angel wall light made from aluminium casting plastic and the London lights from when Sherlock Holmes roamed the streets.
Fluorescent coloured kerosene lights, now electrified for the modern user that take you straight to the mujra rooms of ancient courtesans.
One of the lights that you might not be able to take home, but will definitely catch your eye at this shop is a decadent royal blue glass chandelier, that looks like it was brought straight out of the sets of a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. Chances are that it did! “We rent this chandelier and many of our other goods to films for their sets,” says Khan, when he found me awestruck by the grandeur of the chandelier. Another cinematic prop is a dusty old typewriter in a discreet corner of the shop. Made in 1953 in England it looks as if it was made to bleed words by the likes of Hemingway, in a cafe by the French Riviera. Revealing yet another of his prized possessions, Khan brings out sturdy looking gunny bags. Unwrapping the contents of the bag from newspaper he gradually places a set of the most skill-fully crafted antique beer mugs we have ever seen. Made in 1954 by the renowned English label Doulton and Co. this set of four is an ode to American literature, with the faces of characters Rip Van Winkle, Long John Silver, The Falconer and The Motorist carved into the shape of beer mugs!
“Where are these from?” I ask still mesmerised by these true antiques, which cost Rs 12,500 each.
Khan cracks a mysterious smile. “Beauties like these are rare,” he says avoiding my question. Having been in the antique business for the past four decades he further confesses, “If you know it’s artistic value, you wouldn’t let them go.” On that note Khan, who initially marketed his antique wares to guests of South Bombay’s posh hotels like The Taj and The Oberoi, now gets back to his WhatsApp messages through which he now closes all his antique deals. As for me I bid goodbye to the many worlds of Saba Curious and continue on my time-travelling trail.
Customise Your Own Oscar Wilde Drawing Room
The furniture stores, some rather dark and dingy, are more abundant than the ones selling antique glass and metal wares at the market. With a mix of old and new goods of antique aesthetic they are made in sturdy teak and rosewood bought from local scrap sellers. Whether you are looking for a quaint side table, a daunting yet intricately designed cupboard or writing desk-all that look like they were sourced straight from the luxurious drawing rooms of Oscar Wilde plays, you are sure to find something that pleases you here. If you don’t you can always get a piece customised from the era of your choice.
“People don’t have space in their houses to accommodate big and bulky antique furniture. So they come to us and other shops in the market, with photographs from vintage magazines and we make the furniture to the dimensions of their convenience,” says Sabir Khan whose store Mausamallys, is one of the rare spaces in the market where you don’t feel like a bull in a china shop.
Through towering Greek pillars, dressing tables made for royalty and rusted benches from Victorian gardens, I found that my heart was set on a couple of Goan wooden rocking chairs. Worth almost Rs 12,000 each, they were half a century old and, with a pillow to rest the back, they looked perfect for many a languid evenings. After eyeing some old trunks in the shop, that spoke of travels far and wide along with a large, fascinating looking water compass, we moved on to explore the next treasure chest.
A Pavement Of Wonders
A little ahead of Mausamalleys, we found an antique storage box which, with its burst of colour in traditional Rajasthani design, had broken the monotony of the surrounding grey hues of concrete. “This is from a home in Jodhpur,” said the owner of Haji Abdul Sattar and Sons who found this box, that looked like it was made for the trousseau of a Rajput princess but was priced at Rs. 3000 only.
Opposite the same shop we found stacks of vintage wooden dividers, lined up against the bark of an old tree. “They are made in Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh)” said the man in-charge of its sales who was dressed in a white kurta-pyjama and sported a flaming orange henna-coloured beard. These exquisite, inricate dividers priced at around Rs. 1800 each (after repair and polishing) are perfect to draw boundaries for those living with pesky flatmates or for giving your studio apartment an innovative sitting room.
Moving away from the beauty of antiques, I soon entered Wadia Art World that, with its abandoned marble fountains and gargoyles, harboured Gothic fantasies of its own. Theough the dust and dirt of the grotesque we spotted a gorgeous Chinese hand-painted cupboard, which we were informed was a real antique and steeply priced at Rs 35,000.
Bidding Adieu
The sun was now setting and though the streets of Oshiwara Antique Market still promised countless vignettes from the ancient world, it was time to leave. The market that continues to be the source of livelihood for three generations of Muslims from the village of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh had an alluring way of playing the fiddle of nostalgia. So, as I rode the train back home I found myself still being beckoned by its tune time and again.
Photo Courtesy for all images - Rashi Arora for Homegrown
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