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There are numerous interesting shops along
Chowringhee Rd selli ng everything from carpets to handicrafts. The Central
Cottage Industries Emporium at 7 Chowringhee Rd is quite good. The shops along
the entrance arcade to the Oberoi Grand Hotel are interesting but not as
entertaining as Chowringhee's amazing variety of pavement vendors who sell
everything from water pistols to underwear to dancing dolls. Kolkata's
administration is trying to move the street hawkers to underground markets in an
attempt to clear the footpaths, but the unionised street merchants have so far
resisted attempts to budge them.
Amid
this melee are runners from other shops, particularly the New Market, looking
for customers. Naturally, 'their' shop is only 'just round the corner', but this
is rarely true. If you follow them, it's going to take up quite a bit of your
time and the prices of the goods which you are invited to examine will be
relatively high. After all, it's a long way back and a lot of wasted time for
them to find another punter.
New Market, formerly Hogg Market, is
Kolkata's premier place
for bargain shopping. Here you can find a little of almost everything and it is
always worth an hour so of wandering around. A particularly good bargain, if
you're flying straight home from Kolkata, is caneware. This is ridiculously
cheap compared to prices in the west and is, of course, very light if rather
bulky.
Between Sudder St and New Market is an expensive air-con
market. In the basement is City Express Supermarket offering fully computerised
checkouts and at least one supermarket helper per customer, some even involved
in product promotion!
There's another good street market along Lenin Sarani in the
evenings. Down Sudder St or in the lanes running off both sides, those in search
of highs derived from the plant kingdom are attended to by touts offering a
range of services. Discretion is the key word.
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