In the mind of a child

In THE HINDU – YOUNG WORLD painting competitions, school students express themselves in colour and form.

What impressions do bazaars leave on children . . .

Venkatesh lives in a “big” town. Maybe, his family usually shops at this enclosed market. It is different from Lathika’s cart vendor and Siva’s open market place. In ‘big’ towns, the municipality has provided a covered area for a bazaar. What one sees in this painting is that Vijayawada must be a cosmopolitan town. The vegetable vendors are not all Telugu-speaking. There is also a Sardarji. One woman vendor is selling her wares in a basket. Who is the man with the trolley? The foreground is coloured green. Could it be that the bazaar is not paved?

I look at the painting by Siva Sankari. His ‘Bazaar Scene’ is filled with so many people. Bazaars are always crowded. But, why are they so? If the bazaar at Teppakulam were made larger, would it still look like this? The advertisements loom large. Everyone is offering discounts. It must be DIWALI time when Siva made this painting. They are diwali offers.

Bazaar on Konkan coast

In Maharashtra, the coastline belongs to the Kolis or Fishermen. The men go out to sea to catch the fish. The women sell the fish at the local bazaar. Koli women focus on the quality of the product. That is all that matters. And, if you don't trust them when they say the price is good and the fish fresh, you can go take a walk!!




There are no "circulation paths" in the Maasali bazaar or Fish market at Murud Janjira, which has today become a weekend getaway for Bombayites and where the Janjira fort stands in the waters of the Arabian sea. You "circulate" without a plan. You "circulate" without a thought. You "circulate" as if you are in the waters of the ocean. With every wave, you change where you are and what you do.




There is an indoor market and an outdoor market. Inside, there is tranquillity. Outside, chaos reigns. The market structure has little openings in the walls and some places in the roof, that bring in the sunlight beautifully. The vendors here have time to chat with you as you stroll around the few lanes within.

There is the countrywood jali which generates good cross-ventilation within the bazaar building. The walls are white. The sunlight is a serene spotlight from above that sometimes puts the women on centrestage and sometimes the fish.






Other posts on Fish Bazaar:
Fish market at Sassoon Docks

Miracle boutique

In India, we have always, always been fascinated with miracles. There was a time when they actually happened, with the tapasya of the Rishis. Later, we lived with the epic tales told at home by our grandmothers and the miracles were almost a part of us. Then, and also before, came the movies, that depicted these tales of hanuman flying in the air, of krishna and arjuna. There were television serials soon after, that brought the miracles to every home, in every town.

When we walk into the Forum mall and see the "Ponds Miracle boutique", it gives us a "good feeling". Then, there are the showrooms that offer all that you need for the gym evenings. Today, lifestyles and malls are about "LOok good, FEel good"

Forum Mall at Bangalore

One walks into Forum mall wanting not so much to "buy" or to even "windowshop" but to find out why everyone in Bangalore recommends 'Forum mall' as THE mall to go to. So, you go in there, and tell yourself, "this must be good, because its the Forum" Quite like when we went into the Louvre in Paris, with little time on hand before the museum closed for the day, we headed straight for the 'Monalisa'. Stood before it and stood before it... and like everybody else does, told ourselves, this is a very good piece of art, because its THE Monalisa, it is Da Vinci's most famous work.

We had been told that Garuda mall was good to visit as well, and that there were many malls in Bangalore, that Bangalore was a "city of malls" . Its always good to first check out the best. So, we enter into the Forum, the backlit floor plans attract attention.

Its the corner spaces in the mall that are designed very well. In one of the corners, is the Cafe Coffee day. Its not so much how the spaces within the coffee shop are, but what the lively corners do for those who stroll in the mall. The coffee shop would pull you in, even if you were not at that moment considering a cup of hot or cold coffee! In the Irani cafes of old-time Bombay, it was this cornerness that was the most remarkable feature. The corners of streets were always taken up by an Irani shop. Its charm did come from its mirrored walls, its marble-top tables and round-seated wooden chairs. The black of the chairs, the mirrors, the bun-maska and the man behind counter were what made the place what it used to be!

Read about:
The Mall: where is it going?
Designing an Indian mall
a Mall for Home Interiors
Spencer's Plaza: the mall in Chennai