India Awaits: Our City Market Adventure

Today I took my mum and her friend, Carol to the area in town called Chickpet and then on to City Market for a local adventure. This area of town is full of local shops selling all things Indian - from sarees to cane dustpans, from nuts and dried fruits to singing birthday candles, from lace and ribbons to rolls of plastic, from mufflers to silver plated crockery...... you name it they sell it. We were on the hunt for some lace for a friends' daughters wedding and with no surprises we found exactly what we wanted, in abundance, as cheap as chips, and I'm happy to report that it got the thumbs up from the daughter back in the States. So we will have to revisit for another purchase.

Walking through this area of town is an assault on every sense - if you are not being deafened by the horns and whistles, you are being pushed out of the way and shoved and jostled by people, cars, rickshaws, and carts. I can only tell you about how bad some areas smelled but you should be very grateful you didn't experience it first hand. It was insane today. There were piles of rotten garbage everywhere, mud and dirt along all the 'footpaths ( this term is very loosely used here), faeces of all varieties (dog, cow, human) and we were even lucky enough to see some people collecting the garbage - with bare hands and wearing thongs !!! It still amazes and shocks me every time.

We didn't eat downtown but our taste buds still got a work out with the intense smell of dried chillies in the air. I don't think I will ever get used to that burned sensation in my throat as you walk by. In amongst all this craziness were huge smiles of welcome and the request for many photos to be taken. The children always have big beautiful smiles and the women are often happy to help and assist when asked.

After wandering through the streets of Chickpet we headed to City Market where the sale of fruit, vegetables and flowers is HUGE business ! We are heading into the Diwali celebration next week (think Christmas on steroids) so there are huge amounts of flowers and food being sold for the celebrations ahead. The fireworks are also on sale and we are hoping to score a few tomorrow for our own Diwali party...... lets hope we finish with all our fingers and toes !

The amount of waste on the floor of City Market was of a magnitude I have never seen, and hope to never see again - it was difficult to walk due to the 5 centimetres of produce waste under foot. I am assuming it is because business is so good this week that no time has been allotted for cleaning - lets hope so. The flowers were as bright and gorgeous as ever and the fruit and vegetables were clean and worthy of buying. The tomatoes, onions and coriander made for beautiful salsa this afternoon. And all costing me next to nothing.

I always love visiting this area of Bangalore - it is humbling on so many levels and makes me realise just how lucky I have it. I wish it was closer to home so that I could make more visits during the week for shopping and sight seeing. I am still a huge tourist here but feel like I am getting to know the 'way of the land' a bit better every time I visit. Unfortunately, the street dentist wasn't working today, so no emergency clean for mum today !!

After our 'local' morning we headed to the peace and tranquility of UB City for a delicious western lunch and drinks and then a spot of shopping. Lets hope the rest of Mum and Carol's trip goes as smoothly as today.