Hanuman Temple

Every Tuesday, my mother goes to the temple dedicated to Lord Hanuman. There are a lot of shops in the temple complex which sell idols, pendants, other things that might be offered to the presiding deity of the temple.


This is my mother making her offering to the idol and asking for blessings for her family and friends.

Venkatesh, Nalli Saree Shop

This is Venkatesh, who assisted a friend and me on our recent saree shopping spree at Nalli. He was very business-like to begin with, showing little interest in what I had to say. Once I clicked his photo and asked him his name, he was very sweet to us and helped us pick a beautiful saree. One of my most favourite teachers, Sabiha Farhat, had taught me, almost unknowingly, that a smile and a few kind words are all it takes to make someone feel important.

Nalli

This is one of my favourite stores when it comes to shopping for Sarees. This is Nalli adjacent to my office. I get to see beautiful sarees every day while coming and going to office. And then there are days when I cannot control myself and go inside the shop to have a look at the beautiful fabrics. Although I don't wear sarees everyday, I love the attire. It is a tad bit difficult to carry, especially for us Jeans clad women of today. It is almost unbelievable that my grandmom had started wearing sarees since the age of 8. Phew!

Eyes, Eyes Baby!!!

I thought this was a pragmatic advice. What do you say?

Mohan Singh Palace

Delhi is a place of designer lables and places where you can get good quality imitations made at affordable prices in sizes that will not force you to hold your breath and stomach inside for hours together. :-) This particular photograph is of one of the hundreds of shops at Mohan Singh Palace, which is a denim market. You can get any shade of denim you want here, the choice of threads, buttons and patches is also quite vast and a pair of jeans that would cost you not less than 2,500 rupees in a Levi store, you can get stitched here for nearly 500 rupees. Now that is a bargain!

Bata

This the place to buy shoes if you are Indian born before 1990, when the MNCs invaded our country and Nike and Reebok became the in-thing. Bata shoes is what we wore to school and to functions. For comfort and style, Bata is what parents said was the high-end thing, when the majority bought their shoes off the street vendors.

P.S: Bata is not paying me for promoting the firm... but i really really think they should. :-)

Swadeshi, Ansal Plaza

This is a shop in Ansal Plaza mall that is called Swadeshi and sells Swadeshi, or things made within the country. Swadeshi was a movement started by Mahtma Gandhi during the freedom struggle of India. Under the movement, Indians were urged to patronize Indian made fabrics, especially khadi and cotton, over foreign synthetics.

Shop in Karol Bagh

I just could not resist clicking this one. The name of the shop captured my attention. This is one of the thousands of shops in Karol Bagh. The market is the place to go if you want to pick some up-market Indian wear.

Rakha Bandhan

Since I had been missing from the blog scene for some time now, I decided to cover up by posting two pictures. India has been in a festive mood for two straight days. Yesterday was our Independence Day and today was the festival of Rakhsha bandhan, that celebrates the relation of brothers and sisters. The sisters tie a silk thread called Rakhi, on the wrist of their brothers, asking them to pledge protection of the sister and the sister prays for a long life of her brothers. The photo is of a sweet shop. Sweets is a big BIG part of festivities in our part of the world. The long threads dangling from the roof are 'Rakhis' that the shopkeepers used to decorate their shops. It sure did work as the crowd proves.