A Bazaar that connects Burma and Madras

Burma and Madras have traditionally been linked by the British rule, people and customs. They still are…

Burma- A mix of the old and the new

This is a picture that I had clicked of a monk in one of the temples that I visited in Burma (current Myanmar). He was delivering a sermon under a makeshift tent (Made in Korea, please note) reading out of an iPad!

That was Burma for me – a strange mix of the old and the new, the traditional and the modern. The unchanging and the changing. Even the name of the country has changed – it is now Myanmar.

Burma Bazaar in Madras

Coincidentally, my first experience of Myanmar, many years before I visited there, was in Madras (currently Chennai) in India. A piece of Burma in Madras. That almost every citizen of Madras refers to or has been to, possibly without thinking of the connection – Burma Bazaar.

Madras has many shopping areas – some of them specialized basis type of goods – electrical appliances, vehicle-related, provisions, clothes and the like. This market is a grey-market shopping hub and was quite the best place to get “foreign goods” in the earlier era of restricted availability of goods that were made outside of India – cell phones, sneakers, cigarettes, watches, liquor and the like.

Burma Bazaar, a mini-Burma

Much like the picture above – a quaint mix of high-tech, expensive, foreign goods being sold out of small, ramshackle, cramped shops… Burma Bazaar. In Madras in Southern India… Sounds strange? Let me tell you how this came about…

The Link with Madras

During the time of the British rule in the Indian sub-continent, Burma was a hub for them just like India was. In fact, the similarity of the city-layout of Rangoon (now Yangon) and Calcutta (now Kolkata) is quite striking. The entire British economy of Burma then, had as its mainstay, Indian workers. They worked as babus, civil servants, businessmen and plantation labor. Much of this workforce was from the Southern part of India, Tamil Nadu in particular.

World War II and Burma

During the World War II there was a huge influx of Indians coming back from Burma. Another such influx happened in the early 1960s. The Government gave land to Tamil refugees from Burma in their homeland, Tamil Nadu. This was to help them set up their business and earn a livelihood.

This was bang in the center of the city, in Parry’s Corner near the Chennai Beach railway station. An association was setup to look after the refugees’ interests, the Tamizhar Marumalarchi Sangam. They initiated and set up the Burma Bazaar in 1969.

Burma Bazaar now

It is a one-kilometer stretch of busy road with a couple of hundred shops on either side. This busy stretch of market has fairly huge business through the day. An estimated 100,000 people pass through this corridor every week! Over 5000 people work here in the market!

The market has lost a bit of its earlier sheen due to the lack of interest in “foreign goods” now. This is due to the opening up of restrictions on foreign goods in regular markets. Also, Indian-made goods are now of far better quality than before. However, for me this stretch still retains its own charm. I may not buy much from here anymore, but I do try and visit the place whenever I am in Chennai. For sheer nostalgia value.

Visiting Burma Bazaar in Chennai

If you would like to visit this slice of history and maybe land a bargain or two, visit Chennai. This market is right next to the railway station. Chennai is well-connected by flight and trains to all parts of India. It is also connected to many international cities. And hey, remember, bargain very hard… 😉

If you would like to visit this iconic market, check out this itinerary to Madras and South India.

Or if you would like to experience the real thing, travel to Myanmar, you could check out our itinerary to Burma or Myanmar.