Begum Bazaar

The land was a gift from a Nizam's begum to the city's merchants, and two centuries later some fifteen thousand shops are still trading on it. Begum Bazaar is wholesale first: brass and copper stacked by weight, spices in open sacks, dry fruits, glass perfume bottles, festival supplies and household everything, at prices close to what the retailers themselves pay. Nothing here is arranged for visitors, which is exactly what makes it worth walking. Mornings move; evenings compress. Keep your bag in front of you in the crush, and haggle politely: it is expected.

Two centuries of wholesale Hyderabad: brass by weight, spices by the sack