touristing at the mandi

I went around the mandi for my vegetables and was chased by young boys looking to sell their wares: small clips, rubber bands, candles, nadas, agarbathis. It is an incessant force at the mandi to get your work done and not be distracted by the small kids who try to make a living. They are like guides to the mandi but at the same time we are short-term visitors who lug back our goods and disappear like tourists, like onlookers.

The phool mandi in Hyderabad, Jam Bagh as the old timers know it, is one such place that has changed faces. Now we also have flower markets in Gudimalkapur one of the largest flower markets in Hyderabad that gets the flowers from Shankarpally, Chevella, Vikarabad. Things change and not remain the same and it makes for the case of wabi-sabi, the way imperfections last.

Published by Hema Malini

I am a trained sociologist and an archival researcher. I am the principal investigator for an archival research project on the Brahma Kshatriyas of Hyderabad and also founder of choosingwellness.org. I also go by my other name Malini. I am a translator of notes that remain in the margins to bring the user of technologies into sharper focus. I use the term community researcher, immersive researcher to talk about the work I do. In the past, as a Director and user experience lead at Code for Princeton I worked with non-profits, community groups, users, and subject matter experts to identify areas of need. I translated this into conversations with brigade members, developers, potential users, and other stakeholders. The applied ethnography and social research skills got me to meet with a diverse set of people across the broad middle class spectrum in Urban India. Living and working in New Jersey for the past several years has given me a breadth and width of understanding and engaging with people adding critical diversity to my bracket of "users" and experience all rolled in one.