Chai Shops in India

There has been a recent trend of chai shops sprouting up at every nook and corner. While the quintessential chai shop has been around since time immemorial, the new trend is a little different. The shops are bigger and attract college youth and other youngsters. They gather around there, standing and chatting and gulping down cups of thick, sweet tea. 

Maybe you can these a middle-class man's Starbucks! 

The sad thing is that Covid-19 restrictions forced many of these shops to shut down. But hopefully, these will revive and be restored to their former glory. Most of these pictures are from Pune.

This one is a chai shop in Belgaon, Maharshtra.

Selling vermilion in Badami

These are shops selling vermilion outside a temple in Badami, Karnataka. The red powder is used in pooja rituals in temples. The uniqueness of it is that the vermilion or kunku lies in large red heaps. Curious as to how it stays that way the whole day. Halad or haldi is also seen in the form of large yellow heaps.

A young boy looking after the shop selling vermilion, haldi, and other items.

A couple in their shop besides the heaps of red vermilion.

Sale Season in India

These last couple of years sales are a regular feature at the malls and in fact all shops. Prices on left over apparel for example are slashed to 50% or less. A few years ago in India one was suspicious of these sales, convinced that the shop keepers hiked the prices and then then cut prices in a fake sale. Today, most of the sales are genuine. The reasons are that the marketers make their money on the high priced items they sell during the non-sale season, and then want to simply get rid of the rest of the stock as fashions change. Consumers are no longer content with last season's clothes.

Sales of popular brands create a huge rush as is seen below.

When sales are in season, there are sales in almost all shops in a mall. Can get confusing for consumers.

Related Images: Inexpensive shopping in Bangkok or Dubai Mall Photos
Or for images of shopping complexes in India: Mumbai Malls in the Suburbs of Mulund and Malad or Mumbai Malls Exteriors or Interiors of Vashi Malls or Pune Malls - Photos

Cycle Repair Shops in India

Small cycle repair shops dot the Indian landscape, from small towns and cities, to villages. You will find a shop repairing cycles just about anywhere. It is the most common mode of transport in India.

A small shed which functions as a cycle repair shop in South India.

Cycle repair shop in Agra, India.

You might also like: Women cycling in India or Boy on cycle with his mother in rural India or Cycle carts with three wheels or Cycle Rickshaws in India or Cyclist Silhouette and Sketch or Man ferrying cycle in canoe

Candy shops in Dubai

These are probably situations from every child's fantasy books. This is a shop in Dubai and can be quite a giddying experience for a child. Whether for good or bad the parent has to decide!

The candy shop in a Dubai mall with the Dubai Aquarium in the background

All kinds of colourful and different shaped candies hanging from a tree in the shop.

A toy aeroplane in the candy shop.

You might also like to see Chocolate Donuts photograph and illustration or Cronut craze or Pastries Croissants and cheesecake or Indian Sweets or Mithai

Related Photos: High Calorie Food - Sausages and Fries or Photos of frying in hot oil
More related food photos: Snacks from India or Instant Noodles Stock Photo

Women's earrings

She is a poor tribal woman but she wears her jewellery proudly. A vendor in Mahabaleshwar. Gold is the preferred metal in India. And everyone owns gold, the poor as well as the rich.

Another lady with her gold earrings and black and white gold mangalsutra.

The same woman vendor selling snacks and drinks on a hot day in Mahabaleshwar.

You might also like Portraits of a Gujarati tribal woman or Tribal woman in a city or Fruit Vendors vs supermarkets or Woman selling hair outside temple in India or Flower sellers in shops, markets and on the road-side in India or
Or Village women from India - sketches and silhouettes or Rural women carrying water and firewood or Tribal women in India or Covered Hindu women or Silhouette profile of an Indian beauty
More pictures: Tourists buying jewellery in Istanbul, Turkey or Costume jewellery beads and necklaces sold in Mumbai.

Is Nirmal Lifestyle Mall dying?

Nirmal Lifestyle on a saturday night. Deserted from the looks of it. There was a time when one had to jostle through crowds. Now only CCD, a coffee shop, is doing well there. Many brands have shut shop. PVR has cut its ticket prices in half to survive. Most restaurants have fled. Not surprising. The poor hygeine at the mall even when it just opened, and the filthy toilets were the worst thing about the mall. Garbage and debris used to lie around. Security people were rude. You couldn't even take a family picture here without them trying to snatch your camera! It was ridiculous.

Another bad thing was that the best thing about the mall used to be the open spaces which were taken away by advertisers. Indoor games like cricket and sports ruined the atmosphere of the mall. Who wants to go to a mall where one can barely walk? Today its so deserted that its scary!

Crossword, a store which used to be so packed that there was barely enough room to stand, has closed down.

A string of shops shut down. First it was Mocha and then followed by other restaurants. Today, even Rajdhani is gone. And this was a place where people would line up to eat from.

A picture from Nirmal Lifestyle's hey day. The promotions were on every week-end. The crowds made it impossible to get to the shops. The brand promotions used to occupy a lot of space. Worst culprits were the toy cars running around in the middle of the mall and a cricket pitch erected in the middle of the mall. Ruined the looks and feel of the mall. No wonder competition from Korum and now Viviana was the death knell of this mall.

Related Images: Mumbai Malls Exteriors or Mumbai Malls in the Suburbs of Mulund and Malad or High Street Phoenix Mall in Mumbai.
or Pune Malls - Photos or Interiors of Vashi Malls

Or Small Retailers in India

Foreign malls: Inexpensive shopping in Bangkok or Dubai Mall Photos

Cotton Mattresses

These is a picture of workers packing cotton into thick material to make a mattress. Such shops are common in all the cities and town of India. Cotton mattresses are comfortable to sleep on but unfortunately lose shape quickly. Re-packing them after treating the cotton inside is the common practice after a few years.

Cotton mattresses are now out of style in developed countries, and have been so for more than a century. Spring mattresses are popular.  Rubber, foam, coir are all used today but in poorer countries cotton mattresses are still used as they are cheaper.

Production of cotton mattresses is a labour-intensive activity.

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A shop which repairs typewriters!

Yes such repair shops still exist! This one is in the heart of Pune city, in Sadashiv Peth, one of the older ares in the city.

Related Images:  Typewriter photograph and sketch

Flower sellers in shops, markets and on the road-side in India

The use of fresh flowers in India are many. They are offered to gods, used as ornaments for the hair and the home, and also as gift items.

These are photographs of people selling flowers in India. There are more women than men in this area of selling. You find flower-sellers in busy markets as well as at street corners and invariably outside temples.

This is a woman in a busy vegetable market in her small flower shop. She is selling flower garlands of marigold and also loose flowers to be used in poojas.

Indian women often weave small white and orange fragant and sweet smelling flowers into a "gajra" and decorate their hair with it. Flowers are used instead of perfume or fragrance. This woman is selling these small flowers loose as well as strung together in a garland.

This man is outside a temple, selling garlands to be used as an offering to God.

This is a small street corner shop selling flower bouquets. These type of shops are found very frequently nowadays as flowers have become popular gifts.

Another man, a flower-seller, in a vegetable market, selling garlands and betel nut leaves.

Another woman selling gajras (flower decorations for the hair) for women to decorate their hair with.

Related Viewing: Unusual Hibiscus or for more images of flowers try the label "Flowers"

Small Retailers in India

Small retailers or what can be called Mom and Pop Stores or Kirana stores are the life of retail in India. They dot the country, in small towns, villages and cities. They are of all shapes and sizes, catering to the rich, the middle class as well as the poor. They create entrepreneurship opportunities for the common man. They are to be found at every corner in most cities, walking distance from residential localities.

These are a row of shops in a crowded streets. They often call themselves "General Stores" and by that they mean that generally everything of daily use can be found here! This means goods ranging from food grains and processed foods to stationary items. These are not self-help shops but have several people behind the counter who offer immediate service.

This is what the inside of a general store can look like. It can be crowded inside, and impossible to step in. The shop-keeper is the only one who can find what you want! These are often called kirana shops.

This is a small store which calls itself a supermarket, catering to the middle-classes. In a way it is although it is cramped and crowded inside because it is a self-help store which stocks daily-use items.

Another small store calling itself a "convenience mart" for the better-off.

This shop is a general store or kirana shop. It sells the same thing but is located in a poorer locality. Goods may not be always genuine (adulterated?) but they are certainly cheap.

A small general store in a poor locality.

Pictures of supermarkets in India: Supermarket pictures - crockery, tomato puree, coconut milk, cheese and butter or Juices and Milk display at supermarkets in India

Other related photographs: Vegetable Markets in India or For Sale Signboards in India or Crowded market places in India or click on the label Retail

Fashion Street in South Mumbai

It's not frequented by the hip crowd but you can pick up some inexpensive and smart ready-mades at Fashion Street in South Mumbai. You might find some foreign tourists here looking for cheap cotton ready-mades but mostly you find the middle classes here. Some of these clothes are export rejects.

A row of ramshackle shops packed with different types of clothes for men, women, and children line this arterial road in Mumbai. Trees provide the shade as you go from shop to shop. Bargaining is common.  Good place to pick up nightwear.

A closer look at these shops selling ready-made clothes. Jackets, tops and T-shirts.

Shoppers walking along the broad pavement along the shops are Fashion Street. They seem to be pretty satisfied with their haul!

Crowded market places in India or Vegetable Markets in India

Tailors in shops and stalls

These are pictures of tailors in China and India. This photograph is of a street tailor in Pune. Small time tailors often sit outside shops or on the streets with a sewing machine and usually undertake small jobs like repairs of garments.

A close-up of an Indian tailor cutting cloth in a tailoring shop.

A close-up of a tailor sewing on a sewing machine.

This is a photograph of a tailor's shop in China. Machines and threads of different colours can be seen in the image.

Chinese tailors at work in China.

A Chinese tailor measuring a suiting length to make a trouser.

For Sale Signboards in India

Here are some photographs of signboards outside shops declaring that they are selling goods at a discount. Sales are always on at some shop or the other in India. Whether it is for clothes or food or shoes or whatever. Whether it is festival time or monsoon time or just time! Shops are flooded with goods and sales managers routinely overestimate what they will sell. But never mind, they still make profits from those who do not buy during sales!

Fancy shops get rid of their old stock every few months.

If there is no reason for a sale, there is always the monsoon sale!

These signs are seen very commonly on the streets. So much so that customers ignore them!

Big Bazaar is a retail chain that has taken people by storm. Everything there is atrociously cheap but they make it cheaper on some days. Best not to visit it unless you want to get pushed and stamped on. There are usually lines to get inside because of the phenomenal prices!

There was a shop called Why Pay More, but that's closed down now. Everything in it was on sale, always.

The streets of Paris in pictures

These are photographs taken on the streets of Paris and there are a few photos of the canals. They capture the atmosphere of the city. Paris leaves a unique imprint in the minds of tourists.
This photograph is of a street near a canal (which connects to the river Seine)  where street painters sell their wares. A row of small shops line the pavement next to the canal and they sell curious and paintings. These are the older districts of Paris and tourists frequent these places.

This is a close-up of the canal St Martin in Paris. A few people can be seen walking on the road next to the canal.

Here is a bunch of tourists crowded onto a boat on the canal. This is one way of seeing Paris. The boat is packed with people and just going under one of the numerous bridges across the canal.

Paris as a city is not as clean as one expects it to be, although it is cleaner than Rome. Here is a shot taken from atop a tourist bus and shows a couple walking down a deserted Paris street. Litter can be seen on the side of the road. To the left of the image is part of the tourist bus from which this photograph was taken.

This is a typical Paris scene. A street cafe at the corner. People seem to spend hours sitting here, doing nothing.

Another cafe on the streets of Paris. It is evening and customers are relaxed and having a drink

These last two photographs have been lifted off a video which I took at a Paris Square. These are are stills from the video. To improve the image quality the sky was made smoother. The area is a commercial district.

More images of Paris:
Birds Eye View of Paris from the Eiffel Tower   
The Louvre Museum Paris - exterior and interior with pieces of art

Eiffel Tower - free photographs
Lido at Champs Elysees, Paris