Beneath its Gothic red-brick clock tower, the single-storey New Market , in the centre of cosmopolitan Calcutta, can have changed little since it opened in 1874. Its real name is Sir Stuart Hogg Market; supposedly, the ghost of Sir Stuart haunts the market, roaming the corridors at night crying out for peace. It would be easier to imagine that he was bemoaning the antics of its coolies, who drag willing and unwilling customers into the various shops in search of commission, and also double as black-market touts. At the north end of the market, a characterless multistorey building has been erected to replace sections gutted by a fire in 1985.

 

The market itself stocks a vast array of household goods, luggage, ready-made garments, jewellery, curio shops, bookshops, textiles, and kitchenware, as well as meat, vegetables and fruit. Among shops that stand out from the rest, Chamba Lama sells Tibetan curios and antique items such as silver jewellery and new bronzes. The Symphony music store has a good selection of classical and popular Indian music, while Sujata's is known for its silk, and Nahoum & Sons is a Jewish bakery. Further up the corridor, condiment stalls offer cheese from Kalimpong, miniature rounds of salty Bandel cheese, and amshat , blocks made up of sheets of dried mango.