Ok, I understand this is a relaxed culture but I find it amazing that the majority of businesses survive here. Between the extended lunchtime breaks (daily) and the standard closed for the weekend mentality, stores log less than 50 operating hours a week! That doesn't seem financially responsible, let alone profitable.
I have tried to go grocery shopping for two consecutive days and have been foiled by e.leclerc being closed yesterday and opening 5 hours later than advertised today. I'll try again tomorrow.
Just walked past a restaurant closed Mondays that essentially only served about 5 or 6 hours a day otherwise. So different.
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Shopping is such a cultural phenomenon. In the United States we cruise the malls sometimes aimlessly. In India is was one huge open-air mall where each shop was overseen by a sadarji who sat in the midst of what ever he was selling. Everything was within reach. He would scoop up the items and weigh them and pocket your rupees. Milk was delivered to your door on bicycle and the milkman would dip out the amount you needed for the day. The milk would then be immediately boiled before going into the morning tea. Shopping was done multiple times during the day; you purchased only what was needed for the next meal. Everything came home wrapped in recycled paper or we carried it in our own bags. No paper bags. No plastic bags.
ReplyDeleteBut what we had that Americans miss is a certain amount of bargaining. You never paid full price. (It was a sign of weakness if you didn't challenge the price.) And everything was seasonal. Mangoes were a summer item and by the end of the summer they were dirt cheap. Bananas followed and by early fall they were giving them away. Okra was early summer. Cauliflower was fall. Do didn't eat things out of season because they were't available. The exception was potatoes. They were kept in cold storage and were a staple year around.
However, my most vivid memory of the markets was a fall evening when I was running home and I broadsided a cow that was eating vegetable refuse in the alley. She didn't see to mind, but it caused me to slow down.