From market to market

The next day, my mother-in-law and I decided we'd like to check out some shopping. Not a lot, but just to kind of get out of the house. The mornings are really nice and cool, but by midday, it gets pretty hot outside, even now. We decided we'd venture out in the morning and get ourselves back a few hours later.

I am not much of a shopper in terms of volume, but I like to look around at stores and styles out of curiosity. I also enjoy the grocery store experience in any country. What was and always has been interesting about the last few times I've been here is the fact that there is essentially a farmers market downstairs outside this flat, and then, if you want, you can hop into an auto-rickshaw and end up at a serious high-end mall. It is. super. duper. weird.

My coconut water. Yum! Yum! Yum! Organic.

My mother-in-law about to guzzle her fresh coconut water.

Fresh fish being sold by the road. 

Downstairs where we catch the auto-rickshaw.

More farmers market

Ok, so this is all very quaint. Now, let's head to the mall via auto-rickshaw.

Always a wild ride. Some drivers are more daring than others. This ride cost us about a dollar. 

 When we get to the mall, first of all, we have to pass our bags through security screening and be checked for weapons. This is pretty normal here.

After we enter the mall, guess what I see? A corporate presence. Now, I'm wondering what happens to the village tea seller back at the farmers' market. The prices in this mall are ridiculous mostly but I ended up buying a couple of things that were reasonable. The whole experience just made me wonder who exactly buys stuff in this mall and who's buying stuff back in the mom and pop shops by the road. The other thing is this: all the advertising material in these malls depicts non-Indians enjoying the good things in life. It is a little disturbing that way because most of the people buying things look pretty Indian to me. Hm. Well. Whatever. The train has left the station on the whole imperialism thing when it comes to India.

Starbucks Coffee