Night 4 - Market

Last night was pretty exciting. After work, I met Shahima, Helene and Amita and Harhsal (I am probably spelling these names incorrectly) from India. We headed out of campus to catch a bus to a permanent market inside the “high tech city,” a sort of touristy-mall complex. Immediately after exiting the campus it becomes an ordeal, as you have to cross two lanes of traffic moving in either direction. You really just make a dash for it whenever a slight gap appears. Harshal was able to help give the cues. We caught the bus and took a seat, where Shashima pointed out the symbols that denote seats reserved for women towards the front of the bus. It was then that I noticed that a lot of people stare at me. For some reason I didn’t notice it on the first few outings – but people really do just stare at Helen and I. It’s alright, though, as I stare at everything pretty unabashedly. I suppose we are pretty conspicuous; the area around campus doesn’t seem too touristy.

We arrived at the High Tech City area and paid a small fee (25 rupees or a little over 50 cents) to get in the permanent marketplace, where there were stalls and stalls of vendors with fabrics, bags, jewelry, saris, kurtis, pottery, etc. Stray dogs wandered around in here, too. They’re everywhere, and they’re really quite cute – some are so skinny or have limps, though. I really wish I could pet them, but I will resist.

The market was really fun. My goal was to get a kurti or two, and there were many options. Whenever you went near a stall, the vendor would come over and begin working you over. Being so obviously foreigners, they took pretty blatant advantage of us – agreeing to bargain with people before us but then not negotiating when it was our turn. I’m eager to practice bargaining myself. I’ll just have to work on calling people’s bluffs and being confident. Fortunately, Harshal speaks Hindi which would usually induce a lower price. He was very helpful – we would pick out something, point it out to him, and he would go bargain for it on his own, thereby getting a lower price. I came away with two lovely kurtis, (for less than 300 rupees, or 8-9 dollars each) and a new mug (50 rupees or about $1.25) that I can use on the tea breaks at work, all largely thanks to Harshal’s influence.

For dinner, we went to a Mexican restaurant in the mall that some of my company had said was really good and they were very excited about, which ended up being a Chili’s. It was a very Indian Chili’s though, which I liked for the better, as they offered a separate vegetarian menu, as well as things like Lentil or Paneer Fajitas (the latter of which we got – very good). Everything had a bit of a spice to it, too. And the service as a bit different – you had to ask repeatedly for water, and that sort of thing.

For the ride home, we rented a cab – which I was very excited about. When you stand at the street they come to you. You bargain for the prices on these, as well. Again, Harshal arranged for the price separately from us to get the better deal. We hopped in (Helene, Shashima, Amita, and I in the back with room for only three to sit, and Harshal in the front with the driver), and set off. It was much more intense than being driven in the closed car as before. At some points I could easily reach out and touch the bikers or other people in cabs next to us, as the vehicles get so close – even just an inch or so apart some times. There were a few terrifying moments of driving into traffic when making turns and nearly getting sandwiched between two busses. Our driver stopped twice without explanation to make purchases at stalls along the road. The funny thing was, though, despite the aggressive, daring driving, the cab-drivers pull over when they take cell phone calls. The two downsides were the occasional “interesting” smell, like stagnant water or mounds of trash or communal ditch-side toilets, and the pollution – I had to bring out the puffer.