A “small town girl” in a big and growing city…
April 1st – I take a fancy to getting a photograph clicked in old-fashioned way – you know going to a studio and posing after applying little make-up and combing your hair with the help of accessories kept inside that warm (hot!), darkish room?
Well, we ended up going to one of the more well-known of the “chain of studios” in the city. Kind of unsure if anybody still gets a photo clicked inside a studio, hesistated for a while and then asked a staff there. He pointed to the last counter. Went there – unsure again. But then saw what was written above the counter… It was something about making your look “heavenly” whether “you want to be a model, are getting married soon or just for the heck of getting a portrait”. The third reason gave me some assurance. So, I asked about it.
“Sorry madame, the studio closes at 8. You can take an appointment for tomorrow.”
‘Oh! How awful. The studio is closed :-(“
Anyway, I’ll come tomorrow, but then for some reason thought should ask the cost… It turned out that it “starts at Rs. 699″…
Ah! Yes – my wishes are priceless, but not so much. ‘Thank you God for saving me the embarrasment. The studio is closed :-)’
But at least getting a photo clicked in the studio is not out of fashion. Anyway, it required little bit of walk on CMH road to find an old-fashioned studio doing the job for 70 bucks for two 6″X8″ copies. But I did it (am yet to collect them, but that’s besides the point).
Lucknow and Kanpur were big enough cities for the places of my upbringing. But Bangalore is a different cake for sure. Its bigger, isn’t it? Then, with its one-ways and dug up roads and dangerous (yeah – that’s the word) footpaths, uncertainties in BMP about the parking decisions it adds to the complexities of living in a big city.
Shopping (Trying to shop, that is) is commercial street was another adventure altogether. Here was the dilemma – if we go to the branded shops its better to go in one of the malls. Those shops are bigger there. The fun in commercial street, supposedly, was to get things cheaper and explore different shops. So, entered the roadside shops. They had things on display, but God save me from their sales people. They just won’t leave you on your own and it becomes so terribly embarrassing and irritating that I almost ran away from a couple of them. They lost a potential long term customer!! 😀 Earlier I thought that this over-activism of sales people lied in the age old problem of combating shop-lifting, but later I got to know that it was more of the incentive system that was causing it. Apparently whosoever gets a customer to buy something he/she pulled out, gets an incentive or something of that sort. Phew!! Oh – most certainly. I am not amongst those who enjoy shopping. My place is not in the commercial street.
Miles to go... 
The way you’ve written this post, next you’ll have film producers queueing up to get script rights…and then the distortions from reality will be even more than in case of newspaperwallahs. 🙂
No problem as long as we get a passing mention in that film, atleast one sureshot piggyback route to stardom. 😛
Bangalore is a bit of let down now a days. Heavy traffic, increasing temperature and soaring prices. The only comfort still left is the late night drive 😉
Exactly my feeling. I feel so lost in Bangalore, even though I stayed in Delhi for a year 😦
Jaya,
Welcome to Bangalore.
Though I could not get why you have to run around to get a photo clicked, but anyway, I will leave that for the time being.
But for sure, even though Bangalore is not really big, it is erratic in terms of cost of living and standard of living balance. But I suppose it again gets back to the old funda of micro-economics – that of demand and supply.
What if traffic is bad, what if the roads have more pond-like potholes, as long as people keep on coming to Bangalore in serach of job etc, Govt too seems to be least bothered.
Anyway, I hope you will get used to the lifestyle of the city in some daye.
Its nice to go for the traditional photo every now and then, but at that price, digital rocks!