Went to one of the oldest and the most promiscuous markets of Delhi. Palika Bazaar also known as Underground AC Bazaar. Wikipedia says, “Palika Bazaar is an underground, air-conditioned market located between the inner and outer circle of Connaught Place, Delhi, India. It hosts several hundred shops selling a diverse range of items; however, the market is dominated by electronic items and clothing. Since the 1980s Palika Bazaar has seen a decline in customers, in part due to the opening of several new, modern shopping malls all over Delhi.”

It could not have been more unjust in terms of definitions. it is like defining Saurav Ganguly, as “An Indian who plays a game popular in that country by the name of Cricket”. Bang on target in terms of facts but completely missing the essence. Palika for most inhabitants of Delhi is a market visited only by the friendly neighborhood smuggled goods dealer and the un-discerning east European tourists (no offence meant). A Place where almost every deal ends up in both the parties feeling that they have really ‘nailed in the coffin’ in terms of getting a bargain price. A place where everything is available except reliability.
Most middle class middle income Delhi residents visit this only to show their Delhi touring relatives the wonder of an underground air-conditioned market (this was true about a decade ago when shopping in Delhi Summers meant shimmering in a tandoor). For the last few years, it had become more a recluse for students, teenagers and young college freshman with its healthy stock of video games, pirated movies, smuggled colognes/deodorants and counterfeit Calvin Klein Sunglasses or Omega watches.
My attraction of this market was the fact that you could find almost any movie out here. I remember very clearly, in my second year of under graduation I saw the movie ‘You’ve got M@il’ and simply fell in love with it. I just had to have that and when I checked up in the large and shiny Music Superstores I found it was distastefully priced at Rs. 600 (roughly $13). All I had a budget was of Rs. 90 give or take another Rs. 20. So I went to Palika and guess what it sure did not disappoint me. I found an ‘ORIGINAL DUPLICATE COPY‘ of the movie (talk of contradictions!) for a sum of Rs. 160 which I bargained down to Rs.120.
Today I had gone their in similar pursuits. I was looking for the complete TV series of ‘House MD’ and had a budget of Rs. 250! (God! How I love Delhi!!) But when I had gone there I found lots of things had changed. It had turned from a movie and games bazaar to a Pornography market. Every nook and corner had a table with a wide array of XX and XXX rated Porn material flaunting the displays. This in itself was not half as bad as the way in which the shopkeepers went about selling them. To every young guy passing the stalls these people would run to hold their hand and whisper unwelcomly ‘Sir, Sexy cheeze hai .. bilkul hot .. ekdum badhiya’ or something like ‘Sir Kya lenge Double, Tripple, Animal, Group, Lesbian, sab milega’. What really stuck out like a sore thumb was their marketing techniques, as these somehow sounded highly vulgar even to a guy who has spent almost 7 years (and counting..) in hostels. I almost felt annoyed and had to fight hard not to snap back with, ‘If I need that I will ask you for that’ but I exercised restraint knowing that it might lead to anything from being ridiculed to being beaten up. The air of the market was almost like that of a prostitute’s den. It was so suffocating! The whole friendly shopping atmosphere was amiss. It is not like Indians are not used to smuggled stuff, in fact they are very comfortable with them. Whether it is software or Gameboy/PS2 Games or Digital Cameras. We have been buying them ‘Without Bill’ for ages, bit it was always from a merchant who was a descent ‘honest’ family man to an ‘honest’ decent family man. This was something new.
The most disturbing fact was that there was very little tat was actually getting off the shelves in the shops, so Palika had actually metamorphosed into a Prolific PORN market. It is for this and other reasons that I truly believe that Porn must be legalized in our country. It would help to keep our kids from going to these shady markets and falling prey to unsocial elements. The logic works like this, Had alcohol not being legalized it would have led to a lot of the people retorting to dark shady shops selling some form of the stuff, most often highly poisonous counterfeit ones or the unregulated home made ones. This would have led to a series of poisonings and deaths. A phenomenon which can still be seen in India in festival days like Deepawali and Holi when we hear of some place some where some 40 odd people fighting for life after consuming highly toxic alcohol variants.
I could not get myself to buy the ‘House MD’ series cause these observations had left so much of a bitter aftertaste in me that though I loved the movies ( I still love “You’ve got M@il”!) and the countless MP3 CDs available there but had I been in place of Sheila Dixit (She is So Useless, isn’t she) I would have definitely shut down the whole market.

(PS: My friend accompanying me told me that recently a lot of lousy quality SEX toys were confiscated from Palika Bazaar. What was more troublesome was the fact that a lot of times highly toxic plastics (unfit for close human contact) are used in these stuffs. These are highly carcinogenic and pose a very serious health risk!)