Chickpet is "THE" market in Bangalore. Well the typical bangaloreans may not differ. but the yuppies who swear by the shopping malls and the commercial street may!
And for me, who has been for the past one and a half year immune to the jostling crowds and “10 X 10” markets in India it was quite an experience.
we walked in to the vegetable market. which sold almost every vegetable under the clear blue skies. or for that matter, the rainy skies. i wanted to stay clear, but then i had committed to my friend that i would go with her to the fruit market too...
on both the sides there were women selling vegetables and the other small house hold things, like mirrors, scrubbers cloth hangers....name it...u get everything here.
we walked into the market proper...from then on...the legs did all the work.. rather i was carried into a maelstrom ....into a huge mass of humanity which was just sweat, hands, legs and sounds of bargain.
we headed to the shops selling flowers, vegetables and other stuff...we just had to move with the stream of hands and legs...the stream of pushing prodding...yelling fighting...people. It was a miracle that we got out in one piece. without anyone picking our pockets...it sure was a miracle. I quietly counted my lucky stars.
Out side, it felt that we were in a brand new world. a world where the head could breathe in normal aromas of cow dung, fresh vegetables and flowers...we headed down the alleys and decided to shop for clothes at some later time...
we headed down the road to get a rickshaw and saw a sugar cane juice shop...decided to have a drink the shop keeper put in a long stick of sugar cane in to the machine and we watched as it became a pulp with the juice collecting outside....and as i gulped down the juice, i felt bad for the stick of sugarcane being squashed to pulp...i had experienced how it felt when i was inside the market
