The market after…
Having been a watcher, a lurker, and a somewhat armchair environmentalist thus far, it’s with a sense of freedom from second hand experiences that I start writing this post. About our first flea market, about people, about things and their lives and about learning. All first hand.
Second to None’s first flea market on July 30th and 31st 2011 was, if anything, a bringing together. It brought together like minded people, ideas, activity, and action. Not just for the two days that we spent at Jaaga, but for later as well. And the fact that a space like Jaaga was available for such an event is what triggered the idea in the first place. More thanks, Jaaga 
.
So here’s a round up on what went down as a unique cultural experience for Bangaloreans.
The idea of the flea market was to provide people a space to come interact and buy and sell used goods to make sure they live their shelf life and transform into other things as well, before being added to garbage. It was also to encourage people to reuse instead of following an always buy new practice. And the response was tremendous. Most folk we met were just glad that there was a physical space where they could connect to buy and sell. We had eager sellers selling pots and pins and products made with recycled paper to enthusiastic buyers!
It aimed at bringing actionists in environmental issues to speak with and engage a larger audience to enable them to start practicing some of the work they are doing. And we had Daily Dump on composting at home, Karol and team on veganism, Divya Bhandarkar and team on managing waste efficiently in communities and Pramila on making self watering planters out of plastic bottles and gift boxes out of anything!
This is an area we hope to expand in future markets and pursue through the blog and group. Listening to people who practice recycling, waste management and other green practices should ideally be followed by some action. Through the group we hope to have the experts stay in touch with folk who want to get more gyan and adopt the practices themselves.
And then, the market turned out to be a whole lot more! It became a place where people made new connections and are form reaching out to a larger circle outside of the market, to increase the scope of some great work they are doing already. Members of the group on Facebook are connecting to collect clothes for the needy, offering to conduct workshops, and working on the next market .
So we feel mighty kicked, enough to think that the concept is a success! And that there should be more such meeting grounds in the future.
What we may do differently though, is keep it a one day event because a 2 day event may have diluted things a little bit (?). Have more space for more sellers bringing in more stuff, and more speakers, so the visiting audience can have a much more varied and fun experience. Yes, the idea is bigger and better!
Probably just have half a day slots and not hourly slots for sellers, just so we can manage and the sellers can manage time better! Phew… that was the tough part of the whole event!
Have an “office” desk for sure – we had a vistor’s book to capture feedback, but what with all the running around, managed to get only two guests to write in it!
The organizers (Shilpa Kamath, Reena Chengappa, moi) have managed the expenses for publicity, badges, tables and the like on their own this time around. Perhaps charge a nominal amount for sellers in future markets, depending on the venue. If this takes care of the little expense we have, it would be great!
Now for our fantastic participants. We can’t thank you all enough! Nitya, Sabir, Nina, Madhavi, Smriti, Amin, Deki, Anita, Prema, Suman, Aiyisha, Meena, Devika, Mallika, Suresh, Haima, Rabi of Refresh, Mala Dhawan – A Hundred Hands, Poornima – Anokhi Planet, Daily Dump, Karol, Toby, Ashish, ANU group, Sohan, Mahinn, Rani John, Yasmeen & Richard, Divya, Bhawna, Pramila, Joseph, Ravi and Vibha of Goobe Books, Samruddhi and Nina, and Niraj – thanks for being a part of the market and showing that flea markets can rock!
Big thanks to Bhavya from Bangalore Mirror, Lakshmi Rebecca from Chai with Lakshmi, Akhila from Timeout Bengaluru, Meera K from Citizen Matters, Aarti and Vinita from The Alternative, Kavitha Prakash from Business Standard, and Shruthy from News 9 for your time and talking about Second to None. We love that you are supporting us!
Athreya Cidambi for the fabulous logo, poster design (yep, all the branding) – thank you!
Manu and Bopanna for climbing precarious climbs to put up our banners and get the venue ready .
The last but not the least – THE Jaaga team – Archana Prasad, Freeman, Kiran, Ria, Clemence, also Mohammed and his band of boys – for all the love and support in lending us the perfect space.
And everyone else for visiting from far and near! Hope to see you all at the next one… If weve forgot to mention someone, you know it’s not because we don’t want to thank you!
Leaving you with some word bytes from participants.
Poornima Bhola, Anokhi Planet: The concept, the energy, the conversations…can’t wait for the next! Anokhi Planet was so happy to be there. Met some lovely people, shared stories and laughs……more soon?
Benaazir Muhammdunni: Had a fab time at Second to None yesterday. Great concept.. Looking forward to the next one.
Simran Dhaliwal: Had fun yesterday! Picked up some cute stuff at really great prices Great job girls!
Suman P.S: It was an awesome experince and concept!!
Rajni Singh: I got a book “for free” today….the person just said he has already read the book so I could take it….that was a great example of “reuse and recycle”….I would love to participate in this when it happens next time…(hopefully soon),…
Mala Dhawan: A Hundred Hands had such a great time today. And we will be back tomorrow too!!
Aparna Raman: In keeping with the mood of Second to None, my son made bookmarks out of cereal boxes and toothpaste covers and is converting a 6-egg holder into a holder for gem clips, rubberbands, pins and other knick knacks. See you tomorrow!
Poornima, 
Shreya Sonar, and 3 others are discussing. 
Arundhati 2:40 am on August 5, 2011 Permalink |
I thought the concept was a success too
I thought there was a lot of footfall, considering this was the first time. Great going girls!
I think you could charge everyone who walks in a nominal amount, noone will mind paying Rs. 5 or 10 and your expenses would be covered (hopefully charging sellers less, so as not to discourage individuals from selling)
With the changes you have talked about (one-day event and increased time slots for sellers), it will get even better
anugummaraju 6:37 am on August 5, 2011 Permalink |
Hi Arundhati, was great meeting you after so long! Agree on the charge, sellers should be free of the hassle of paying large amounts of money for stalls. Thanks for the suggestion!
abha 5:37 pm on August 5, 2011 Permalink |
Hats off to you ladies, the concept, organisation and execution is brilliiant. Sitting as far away as Delhi, I can tell that what sets this event apart from all the others is the warmth and human-ness of all the people involved.
I do agree that visitors should be charged a nominal amount, enough to offset your own organisational expense. Rubber-stamp their hands too when they enter, they carry your logo on their hands everywhere they go after that.
And please dont ever change the basic premise of your event, its simply beautiful.
Yasmeen I. Degenaar 5:05 am on August 6, 2011 Permalink |
Brilliant effort girls and lots of power to you! Like Arundathi’s idea to have buyers pay a small fee… And any more new ideas we’ll defintely share on the Facebook group to keep this growing!:)
Shreya Sonar 12:40 pm on August 6, 2011 Permalink |
This is just absolutely brilliant! I wish I’d known about this! Please do inform me about your next market, I’d love to make it! Would love to help in anyway I can =)
anugummaraju 1:40 pm on August 6, 2011 Permalink |
Abha, Yasmeen, Shreya – great to read you! It was the people we connected with that made all the difference, yes! We’ll definitely have more markets and holler for volunteers, so do stay tuned in here and the FB group!
Poornima 9:30 am on August 10, 2011 Permalink |
The ideas and suggestions are great…perhaps a one day event, more space and many more tables to increase the fun and some way to work out the economics for the organisers. What was special about this flea market was the “non-commercial’ feel and the sense of being part of a network of like-minded people. Hope that isnt diluted at all. Good luck and waiting for the next!