City Market

Today we went to "City Market" with our friend Aneeta. Janet wanted to find some interesting beads with which to make a necklace and earings and we were told three things about City Market. One is that we should be able to find almost anything there because it is huge and diverse with lots of vendors and lots of people. Two is that it would be hard to actually find what we are looking for and three is that it is very crowded and dirty there. All 3 seem to be true. The night was relatively cool as was the morning. There have been more frequent rains- in the later afternoon and early evening mostly and it has been a little cooler.
We got a late start at about 12:30 and picked up Aneeta and road over to the City Market. Actually, we didn't go into the true "City Market" which appears to be a huge building. It is supposed to be mainly fruits, vegetables and flowers and we were looking for other things today, so we went to the huge warren of narrow streets and alleys around the market. We began walking and said we'd meet up with Joseph, or driver on the other end- around 3/4 of a mile away.
We took a few pictures along the way. The streets were full of people and motorbikes and 3 wheel vehicles hauling all sorts of things! They were nearly impassable in places where motorbikes parked a little carelessly or two sets of vehicles were trying to pass at the same time when there was really only room for one. However, people always seem to work these problems out and everyone eventually gets where they are aiming to go.
We stopped at one "tinker's" shop - at least I think that is what he is- he made and sold items made from galvanized sheet metal. Things like funnels, watering cans, buckets and some pointy things that we learned were essentially huge sewing needles used for sewing up huge bags of things that get hauled elsewhere. We saw lots of these bags being carried on peoples heads or on motor bikes or on the 3 wheeled vehicles, so we understood right away what they were once described. The Tinker did not want his picture taken, so we won't post one here.
Janet wanted a watering can, but we decided against carrying a heavy metal can all over the place.
We found a shop that sells plasting bags and tape and rubber bands, so we loaded up on rubber bands, ziploc style bags and kitchen trash can liners. Further along we spotted a plastic watering can- Janet is very happy! (At least until we find out it has a leak, which is quite possible, but we have some glue and tape!)
There are a number of older buildings in this area, but most seem to have been converted into tiny little shops of highly specialized nature. This was much the story in the US perhaps 70 years ago. The streets were very crowded- did we say that yet?
As we walked Jim could not help noticing the way the electrical wiring was done. Here are a couple pictures that illustrate the situation. One shows a sort of pole that has wires dangling, hanging every which way and strung in all different directions. It does not appear to have been done by professionals, well maybe by professional painters. It seems unlikely that any one will be able to sort out a problem when it occurs. It seems more likely that a new wire will be strung. Another example shows a string of wires on a pole or wall that looks like professional rats nest makers did the job. It is difficult to believe that fires don't start periodically in spots like this- and that a few people get electrocuted near them too. Remember that India uses 220 volts as standard, which is quite a bit more likely to kill than 110 Volts. Although, maybe the power is off often enough in this area that this isn't much concern.
Janet eventually found some beads she likes and there was a handmade paper shop close by too so we got some very pretty handmade paper as reasonable prices.
The walk to reach our car was long especially with the streets being very crowded. Did we mentione that the streets are very crowded? We were rather tired when Joseph picked us up and we went to a nice hotel for late lunch which also served as dinner. After that we stopped at a government run place abbreviated CKP that has art shows of various kinds. This time is was paintings and sculptures. Most works are for sale and it seems a good way to get exposure to artists. We then went home. Ziggy and Zoe are shown in closeup pictures here.