Shopping

For many people travel and shopping are inextricably linked but I must admit I don't care much for buying things. I rarely take gifts home for people (sorry folks - your bad luck to have such a mean and miserly friend!) and if I do they are usually of the practical or interesting type rather than souvenirs or the like. So my shopping while here is mostly limited to food (fruit and vegetables), utilitarian items (nailbrush, stainless steel plates) and - my one splurge so far - a presentable outfit in case I get invited to a wedding or fancy event.

Although you can certainly buy vegetables at Kovalam Beach in a number of small shops I prefer to shop in Chalai Bazaar - Trivandrum's main shopping area. I bought strawberries the other day - I had never seen them before in an Indian market. They were very expensive at 80 Rs (or just under $2 Can) for a 250 gm container. I thought they were from Kashmir but in fact they were from Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra. They were not very good but I had to try them to find out. In terms of fruit I most often buy grapes, bananas and guavas. I am especially fond of red bananas which are quite costly at about $1 Canadian per kilo (or about 20 cents per banana).

In terms of vegetables I buy things that I like to eat raw since I have no access to cooking facilities here. So carrots, radish (both red and white which are both long and carrot-like rather than globular - I've only seen the white - called mooli in Hindi and frequently served in restaurants in the North as part of a salad plate - in the market once), tomatoes, green peppers (not seen red, yellow or orange), peas (sold in 150 gm bags shelled and ready to eat - not as tender or sweet as those of my childhood memories but still yummy) and cucumber. I haven't bought cauliflower though I enjoy it raw since the stuff I see in the market always looks rather limp and unappetizing. Broccoli, celery, cherry tomatoes and snow/snap peas are not available in the market though I suspect that if you're running a restaurant in a 5-star hotel you'll know where to get them.

Here are some veggie photos from Chalai market.

The green veg is chayote squash (which I've seen but never bought in Canada), then radishes & finally potatoes

Rather than selling by weight these fixed price portions seem to be gaining in popularity

shallots

Tomatoes, bitter gourd/karela and onions

I never see yellow onions in the market - only these red/purple ones

Of course there is much more than just vegetables and fruit available for sale in the market. I don't usually venture into the meat and fish section and in fact most of the time when I've shown up the fish is all gone and I've not really figured out where the meat section is (and not really that interested in finding out either). The chicken section is full of live birds in cages who seem not to be disturbed by the execution and cutting up of a fellow clucker taking place very close by both temporally and spatially.

There are lots of other intriguing looking things for sale including various pasta products, spices, brass and steel implements and pretty much anything else your heart might desire. Clothes are also available in the market but I started my search for an outfit at Fab India - which is located in one of Trivandrum's tonier neighbourhoods - but didn't find anything that I fancied. A second stop at Parthas which is a huge, air-conditioned, snobby (in my opinion) outlet with overpriced but very nice items also proved fruitless. Finally, I found an outfit I liked for 1070 Rs ($24) at another shop down the street. This outfit is a salwar kameez and I'll include a photo of it at some later point.

The charming lions in the FabIndia compound

The staff at FabIndia told me on an earlier visit that the building was the childhood home of a Malayali film star but I can't remember which one (Mamooty or Mohanlal) - maybe this is an urban legend anyway :-)

In closing here are some additional shopping photos.

Clockwise from back left - dried peppers?, no idea, dried chilis, dried chickpeas, pasta

This lot was locked up and empty - no idea why - sure would be nice if people would park here instead of on main thoroughfare through the market (especially when they abandon their cars almost in the middle of the road!)

Colourful pasta

Getting the last of the fish!