The "Crossroads" Marketplace Though born into a large Chinese family, Cheah Hin Leong (picture, right) speaks fluent Hindi and effortless Urdu. The jolly 77-year old has probably bowled over countless folks in his lifetime while swaggering with casual eloquence such unlikely languages. But those who know him well are not the least bit surprised. Ah Leong, as friends call him, was born in Teluk Anson – but he was bred, apprenticed and made to earn his keep in Chowrasta. Chowrasta, roughly translated from the Urdu – the very tongue Ah Leong has picked up since his boyhood – means "four cross-roads". And like the bubbly multi-lingual septuagenarian, the famous sprawling marketplace splashes the heart of George Town every day with its rich variety of life and colour. Unlike its famous namesake in India, the very touristy Chowrasta square of Darjeeling, the Chowrasta of George Town vibrates with an atmosphere, liveliness and a tang that are distinctly local. Sited along Penang Road – the heart of George Town's traffic artery – the precinct teems with a vibrant assortment of bazaars and marts where throngs of Penangites bargain and quibble over an endless array of items. Swarming the wet markets, the thrift bazaars, the antique shops and the roadside hawkers, folks haggle over a motley of things mundane and eccentric – preserved nutmegs, Shakespeare books, straw rice-field hats, fresh green broccolis, imitation designer sun-glasses, antique watches, undergarments... There is even a corner where an old sewing machine from the 1940s still spins and whirrs away, stitching traditional dresses, scarves and headgears in good old-fashioned Malay style. 'JUAL MURAH' In fact, this particular spot is one of many shops in the historic Jual Murah enclave where Ah Leong has worked since his teenage years. Literally translated 'jual murah' means 'cheap sale'. Jual Murah is the only pure Malay market in George Town. Manned by traders of diverse cultural backgrounds – Pakistanis, Gujaratis, Punjabis, Tamilians, Chinese – one can see how the place gave Ah Leong his knack for languages. If there is anywhere in the city where one can get a Malay item with a dose of Penang-style bargain, this is it. One finds here an exhaustive selection of sarongs local and Indonesian, batek fabrics, songkoks, lush Persian-style rugs and scarves tasselled or plain – among the many items. Like its kaleidoscope of wares, the bazaar also reflects Chowrasta's interesting history. The Jual Murah did not in fact begin as a Malay enterprise during the late 19th century. Traders from Fuchien in China originally occupied the area. Many of them later moved to working the tin mines in mainland Malaya. "Many Chinese traders lived in the shophouses across the police barracks in Dickens Street," Ah Leong remembers of the old lane just across Chowrasta. "They smoked opium in small dens they built there. "But they were hard workers. They worked in the market from seven in the morning till midnight." JAPANESE OCCUPATION During the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, all the retail shops moved further up Penang Road to the five-foot ways near Chulia Street. The bazaar space was used for storage and parking bikes. "There were no thieves during the Japanese time," Ah Leong says. He remembers a Malay and a Chinese caught looting by the Japanese. "The Japanese called everybody to come to the police barracks to witness Japanese law and order. They blindfolded the looters. A captain appeared with a long sword, hit the looters on the back of their necks, then chopped their heads off. "They then tied the heads to an electric lamp post for all to see." BRITISH MILITARY OCCUPATION Chowrasta had suffered from the Japanese bombing of Penang. When the British later re-occupied Malaya, Indian traders, particularly of the Chettiar clan, operated there. Ah Leong remembers the first trader to bring in Indian textiles during the British military occupation as T.S. Ganpatram. "The whole shipload was sold off in one week." Many items left from the Japanese period, labelled 'Custodian of Enemy Property', were also rapidly retailed off during this period. Malay goods also became popular, spurred by workers and migrants from Sumatra who lived in George Town. Because Penang was then a duty-free port, the cheap Jual Murah items attracted Malay customers from as far away as Butterworth, Bukit Mertajam and Kedah in the mainland. Yeap Kean Guan, 67, remembers the busloads of Malays who converged from Alor Setar and even southern Thailand to shop at the Jual Murah. "Many British people also came here to celebrate," says the veteran trader who has worked in Chowrasta for some 50 years. A huge rusted signboard of the Broadway Café still looms high near the entrance of the Jual Murah. A Chinese herbal shop now occupies the first floor area where the westerners had famous bar fights. PICADILLY BAZAAR Another historic signboard – a legacy of the British – lies hidden from public gaze along the narrow quiet back lane of Chowrasta. Bent and worn by the elements, the signboard of the Picadilly Bazaar gives a nostalgic picture of the days of yore. Unlike the crowded busy square in London it is named after, the bazaar with its 20-odd shops presents an idyllic portrait of shopping experience in standstill. Merchants such as tailors, curio and antique sellers, and textile retailers await customers as they have for decades under a cast iron building structure roofed with clay tiles and timber beams. The building has the musty air of a museum and reminds one of an old railway terminal. The various shops are cluttered with an array of items. Squatting on a bench in his corner, a Chinese watch-repairer listens to Cantonese rediffusion music amid a jumble of trinkets and antiques. Hanifa Sintha (picture, right), 70, has plied his textile shop in Picadilly for past four decades. His father had opened the small business when he joined as a young man. "This was a main shopping place before the Japanese arrived," he says in his shop decked with textiles, including chequered and colourful sarongs. "During the Japanese time, the place became a fish market for a while," he remembers. WET MARKET Picadilly Bazaar sold fish only over a few years. Another wet market, however, is still as noisy and smelling, and full of fish, noodles, vegetables and fruits as it was years ago. The central Chowrasta wet market was reportedly built as a single-storey structure in the 1890s and was rebuilt eighty years later to a spacious two-storey complex. Bottles and plastic packets of savouries and medicines line the open retail outlets at the market's face on the ground floor. Honeyed nutmeg flakes, belacan, tambun biscuits, herbal massage oil, sea-cucumber paste, sour tamarind powder and sweet plums parade the shelves like a multi-hued pageant of Penang's variegated tastes. Outside, along the road, a hawker noisily steams water chestnuts amid the hot plumes of pungent white vapour as buses and trishaws pass by. Sometimes, one can hear the roar of a motorcycle engine come to a stop at Chowrasta when Ah Leong halts his old Velocette bike here. He has two models, bought way back in 1952 and 1962 from Kee Huat Motor, and which still run as well as they did decades ago. Ah Leong has a knack for turning heads – whether it is while blurting out in Urdu or driving his inimitable classic Velocettes. The jovial old fellow has breathed the vibrant life of Chowrasta almost all his life. And like his bikes and his uncanny tongue, Chowrasta too continues to shimmer every day with a history and liveliness that is quaintly typical only to Penang. Written by Himanshu Bhatt Related Story: The Literary Corner Above Himanshu Bhatt, an incorrigible book addict drags Adrian, a web designer along to check out the cluster of timeless second hand book shops at Chowrasta. Click here for full story | Home | About Penang | Festivals | Calendar of Events | Local Cuisine | Heritage | | Accommodiation | Attractions | Shopping & Entertainment | e-goodies | Powered by  Penang Network Services Sdn Bhd 13th Floor, Wisma TNB, No.30, Anson Road, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 04-228 9100  •  Fax: 04-228 9300 •  E-mail:info@penang.net.my Disclaimer and copyright

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