The whole area always hums with crowds and blaring horns. From clothes shops to markets for daily necessities, the haggling of buyers and sellers, the cries of hawkers and the bustle of people never seem to stop, and the busy roads are often so crowded that even walking is hard. But on Sundays a very different sound joins this familiar scene: the chirping of birds, the quacking of ducks and the flapping of pigeons' wings rise above the din, charming passers-by and shoppers.

This weekly animal and bird market is in Tongi, an important town between Dhaka and Gazipur. Busy Tongi begins just across the Abdullahpur bridge from Uttara, and every Sunday this unusual market sets up amid the bustle. Many know it as a duck market, but a wide variety of birds and animals can be found there. Some come to buy a favourite bird, some to see a new species, and some simply to spend a little time among the birdsong.

Just across the Tongi bridge, rows of local chickens line the roadside along the Mymensingh road. Sellers, women as well as men, sit one after another with chickens, some with local hens in cages and others with chicks. A little further on are caged quails, and elsewhere sellers offer ducklings and young local chicks. Many passers-by stop to look, some bargain, and some buy the one they like.

Further on, to the east, a large fair of animals and birds comes into view, like another world beside the busy road. Some stand with cages full of pigeons, others sit with rabbits. A crowd gathers around a parrot held by a teenager, with people handling it, taking photos or haggling over its price.

A little further on stands another seller with a myna, again surrounded by buyers and onlookers. The same row has cats, pigeons, rabbits, quails, lovebirds and many other local and foreign birds and animals.

The market also has colourful fish. In small boxes and containers of water, fish of many colours dart about, catching the eye of passers-by. They are sold mainly for aquariums in homes and offices, and crowds of buyers and onlookers gather at these stalls too.

To the right is an entirely different scene: a kingdom of ducks, with traders sitting in rows with many local and foreign breeds. Some ducks stand quietly, others quack and flap. With pigeons, parrots, mynas and quails calling on one side and ducks on the other, the whole market becomes a living fair of sound.

Beside the highway, a young man sat with a few white chickens in a cage. Such unusual-looking birds beside a busy road naturally drew passers-by, and this reporter went over to talk to him. They were European short silkie chickens, one to one and a half months old. The seller, Mohammad Ferdous Hasan, is from Jamalpur, lives in the Notun Bazar area of Dhaka and works for United Group. He has long kept pigeons and other local and foreign birds as a hobby, and between 2016 and 2018 he had many more kinds of birds. For the past year, however, work has left him unable to give them as much time, so he has gradually reduced their number.

"I have loved keeping birds since childhood," Ferdous Hasan said. "I have kept pigeons and various local and foreign birds for a long time. Because of my job I can't give them the same time, so I have cut down a lot. I have brought a cage of European short silkie chickens to sell at the Tongi market. I am asking Tk 1,200 a pair, and I'll sell if I get Tk 800."

In his view, bird keeping can make a profit, but it carries many risks. "You have to keep a regular eye on feed, care, disease and other things. As a business, the risk seems even greater. So I don't want to take it up fully as a profession or business. Alongside my job, I want to keep birds as a hobby, as far as my time allows."

While walking around the market, this reporter saw three people getting off a rickshaw with a box. When they opened it and took out two cats, a crowd formed at once. Buyers, sellers and onlookers came to see them; some watched from a distance, some stroked the cats, and some asked the price.

The two cats, kept as pets, had been brought for sale. One was a Scottish Fold and the other a Persian. One of the three, Sayed, is a private-sector employee who lives in Sector 13, Uttara. In 2024 he bought four Scottish Fold and Persian cats to please his niece. As they had kittens, the number grew, and he now has 17 cats at home. Looking after so many has become very hard for him.

"I am asking Tk 4,000 for each cat I've brought to the market, and I'll sell if the price is right," Sayed said. "I started keeping cats as a hobby and spent a lot of money. Now it has become very hard to keep so many, so I have been forced to decide to sell some."

With the haggling of buyers and sellers, the curiosity of onlookers, the excitement of children and the calls of animals and birds, the Sunday market comes alive. Beside the busy road it is not only a place of buying and selling but also a place to see many colours, many species and people's varied interests. From morning to afternoon the whole area bustles with buyers, sellers and visitors.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.