Stories from Matt.

Of Markets and Electric Spaghetti.

Visiting the market places around New Delhi has become a major hobby of mine. It's something I mainly do alone, dragging two young children around the often dusty, crowded, cramped and strongly perfumed (not all smells are good - not all bad, either) market stalls, streets and alleys adds a degree of difficulty.

There are markets all over the city, so much that it would be possible to visit several in a single day just by walking from one to the next. They are as diverse as the neighbourhoods they serve - those attached to wealthy neighbourhoods or closer to the centre of the city are cleaner, better organised, more expensive - up-market. Others are less clean, more mean, but still have the things people need to buy from day to day.

Many market areas have a sort of speciality, some are famous for their clothing and fabrics, others for electronics, car and bike services, furniture.......

But you can always get anything you need from any of the larger market areas.

Last Thursday, I visited  "Munrika". It is now my favourite market.

Munrika Market place.

This photo might give an idea of the closeness of the layout (markets like this aren't really planned, so "layout" might not be the best word for it). There are small stores on either side, in three or four storied buildings. The street is barely wide enough for a car to drive down, but motorcyclists are allowed to pass among the shoppers and pedestrians.

These streets go on for about a kilometre in each direction, Hundreds of shops.

The main street is dedicated to furniture stores, but in the canyons of Munrika, you can buy just about anything.

Looking Up

People often comment on the overhead cabling - electricity and communication - that hangs in abundance over the streets of Japan's cities. I've heard it called spaghetti by at least one foreign visitor.

Zoom in on this pic. to see the real noodle salad of India's cable technicians.

One wonders if even half of these wires are connected at both ends.

I was especially impresses at how the property agents and store holders have taken to suspending their advertising from it.