Freeganj Market

If the lanes around Mahakaleshwar are Ujjain's devotional heart, Freeganj is its everyday, workaday town centre — the modern commercial quarter where locals actually shop, snack and stroll of an evening.

• Laid out on the newer side of the city across the railway line from the old temple bazaars, Freeganj is a grid of busy market streets radiating out from a landmark clock tower (the Ghanta Ghar), a meeting point every Ujjaini knows.
• It is less a single monument than a district you wander: an energetic, thoroughly local shopping experience rather than a sightseeing set-piece.
• Come here for the practical pleasures of an Indian bazaar.
• Cloth and readymade-garment shops sell saris, dress material and everyday wear; there are shops for footwear, luggage, cosmetics, electronics, stationery, sweets and household goods, interspersed with small cafes, juice corners and snack stalls.
• Tower Chowk (the clock-tower crossing) and the streets around it form the commercial spine, thickening in the cool of the evening when families come out to browse and eat.
• Bargaining is normal in the smaller shops; fixed-price showrooms sit alongside them.
• Because this is a genuine working market rather than a tourist strip, prices tend to be fair and the atmosphere unpolished and friendly.
• Freeganj makes a useful contrast to the temple-town Ujjain most visitors come for.
• A morning at Mahakaleshwar or the ghats of the Shipra pairs naturally with an evening amble here — a place to pick up a length of cloth, a pair of sandals or a box of sweets to carry home, watch small-town Malwa go about its business, and rest tired feet over a cup of tea.
• It is central, walkable and well connected to the rest of the city, close to the railway station, so it slots easily into a day's itinerary.
• For food, Freeganj is comfortable territory for vegetarians, as most of Ujjain's mithai shops, chaat corners and family restaurants are pure-vegetarian.
• Look for a good namkeen-and-sweet shop for Malwa favourites like poha, jalebi, mawa-bati and kachori, and for chaat carts serving samosa, aloo tikki and dahi-bhalla.
• To drink, ask for plain, bhang-free lassi or thandai and freshly pressed seasonal juice.
• When choosing a sit-down meal, confirm the kitchen is pure-veg before you order — many in this district are — and you will eat very well for very little.