Long before online shopping and malls came to town, one’s go-to place for bulk shopping, festival shopping, home furnishing, or even electronics were the wholesale markets. They were the pulse of the city, its identity, and in many trend-setters; the goods came here first before they hit the display windows of retailers. One honed the life skills of identifying good quality stuff, navigating through the crowded streets jostling shoulders with hawkers and window shoppers alike, and the art of of bargaining in these  narrow by-lanes. Every city in this country has its own famed wholesale market; a street dedicated to a particular good like books, clothes, electronics, packaging and stationery, lights and so on.  Systematic chaos. And no visit for a tourist was ever complete without stepping foot in one of these. Often, a visit to these markets was a task in itself that required meticulous planning: how to get…