Today I went out with friend Vishnu who also acts my guide to discovering Bengaluru, to Sultanpet weekly second hand goods market. The market comes alive once a week and all kinds of second hand goods are available there .... electrical, electronic, shoes, cloths, hardware, etc, etc.
The place was teeming with people of all shapes and sizes ..... women wearing colourful cloths, toddlers holding on to their parents, teenagers hanging out just for fun, weary middle aged people who are out there for a good bargain ...
And in this melee, autos and cars were vying for space among hundreds of people ... it was amazing to see that actually everyone was getting their way, albeit making others to go out of theirs!
People who come to this market are looking for cheap products and to bargain for some more. We had people scrambling to buy mobile phones for Rs. 100, which were chinese made. I could not help but wonder whether they would actually work, but I guess people who were buying had some reason to scramble for them.
The whole market place was such a unique and lovely experience for me. I felt both lost and connected with people on the street and with the life that was thriving and throbbing right there.
Every city has a second hand market aka flea market. It is an experience all right and the bargains are tempting but good sense always prevails and I don't spend a rupee there! But good time-pass :)
ReplyDelete@zephyr: LOL. i did pick up a small wrench for Rs. 10. could not stop myself. :-)
ReplyDeleteA souvenir, Sharbori? :) Sounds interesting except that I'm not too good with large crowds :(
ReplyDelete@Corinne - yes, i guess so. :-)
ReplyDeletei understand your discomfort - having been brought up a in a crowded locality in Kolkata has probably helped me to take crowded place a bit better. But I too feel a little claustrophobic if it becomes too much.