Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Scenes from the Marketplace, Part 1

After we explored the flower market, we observed the transformation back into the regular scene of market business on the same area that a mere few moments earlier had been a florist's paradise; then we went down some steep, uneven steps to the market proper, which resides underground. There was a flower section spilling irrepressibly from the street into the hall; but as we prowled down narrow passageways and navigated odd little corners, scenes of fecund lushness greeted us at every turn.

The pictures below in no way represent the whole of the vast City Market; but they'll give you a hint of a pleasurable hour whiled away amidst some of the colourful ingredients of gustatory Bangalore.

Observing the morning's activity



Traces of beauty in the ubiquitous rubbish


Mustering what comforts can be found
at the start of a long day

The banana leaf stall: these are used
as disposable plates for the throngs of guests
at wedding receptions and other functions

A makeshift street of herbs

The garlic cart:
Less than $2 per KG!
Setting up for the day
on her little patch of pavement

One of several herb carts.
An enormous bunch of mint costs
less than 25 cents ...


Mint and coriander tossed away as
unsellable is of better quality than
what I get at grocery stores here!

Like Ruth of Biblical times,
gleaning from what has been
dropped or discarded

 
The Market comes to life with a roar of engines ...

View from the top of the stairs looking down
into the entrance hall of the indoor bazaar

A peek down one of the many
produce stall lanes in this market

General produce stall




















Chili mountain

Fruit stall - look at those papayas ...

The flavour of the vegetables makes a person
WANT to eat his or her vegetables!

Picking through the potatoes


  
Tomatoes are red all the way
through, and exploding
with flavour







Sorting and grading chilis



The basis for every good curry:
tender onions and fresh "ginger-garlic"

5 comments:

  1. What a paradise amidst squalor! The size of those veggies are amazing - I have never seen a garlic bulb as big as my fist, let alone a whole pile of them!

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  2. Great pictures -- I swear I could taste cilantro.

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  3. These are super market shots!

    I love seeing through your eyes, K. Every thing is translated into being beautiful.

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  4. Disclaimer: All the pictures in this particular post, as well as the flower market post, were taken by Deborah Joy on her wonderful iPhone. I got a new camera and it let down the side terribly; fortunately Debs stepped nobly into the breach.

    Although a few pictures in upcoming blogs will be from my gimpy, wimpy camera, the majority will be what Debs has graciously taken for me - enduring, for three weeks, commands such as "Debs, take that!" "Debs, quick, over there!" "Debs, to your right!" etc. And she never complained once. A more gracious surrogate blog photographer there never has been. Thanks, Deborah Joy. xoxo

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  5. well, why am i not surprised. . . Deborah's beauty radiates the world too... !

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