Every January, a quiet miracle takes shape in Mathurapur, West Bengal. It’s called the Bhanga Mela, the “Broken Fair” where even discarded things are given a second life.
For centuries, villagers in South 24 Parganas have gathered here not to buy shiny new goods, but to trade the broken, the chipped, the once-loved.
An iron pan with a crack, a transistor with a faulty knob, a pressure cooker missing its whistle — all find eager buyers. Here, one person’s junk is another’s hope.
It's believed the fair began with just a handful of sellers offering wooden/cloth items in a humble barter space for farmers & workers who couldn’t afford new items. Over time, it became a living model of what we now call the circular economy.
Today, repairmen and small traders sit in rows, their hands moving swiftly. A dented plate is hammered back to shape, an old radio crackles to life, a fan blade is straightened — waste turns back into wealth.
What makes it magical? Nothing is ever thrown away. Every screw, every piece of metal, every scrap has a future. At the Broken Fair, resources are respected, not wasted.
Long before “sustainability” became a global buzzword, this rural fair was quietly teaching India how to reduce, reuse, and recycle — with dignity and ingenuity.
For people like Ismail Molla, the fair is family. “In the past, we shared stalls, stored each other’s goods, no money involved. I miss that camaraderie. Still, I’ll be here till my last breath, even if I face losses,” he told Mongabay.
But today, the crowds at the fair is dwindling. Cheap factory-made goods, e-waste no one can fix, and fading traditions threaten its heartbeat. Repairmen who once thrived now fear being forgotten.
As India grapples with mountains of waste, maybe the answers aren’t in futuristic solutions — but in age-old fairs like this one, where broken things are reborn, and nothing truly goes to waste.