Shopping Day

This is the doorman at the Chancery Pavilion in Bangalore. We call him the General. He spends his team beaming at people and wearing a fun outfit. I like his moustache and told him so. He seemed pleased with this but he's generally pleased with everything, especially the rupees I slip him. He located our driver this mornng as we set out for an expedition to the local shopping centers.

We told the driver to take us to the stores the girls at work recommended, but he took us here instead "just so we can get an idea". The persistent salesmanship here would make the hawkers in Cancun blush. Most of us walked out with things we could have gotten cheaper elsewhere and a vague feeling that our driver was in cahoots with them somehow. Still, I sometimes don't mind being taken along for the ride and it was fun.

Later we went to a couple of local shopping centers. They were madhouses. Checking out took forever. But, the places were very lively. They had live dj's and push-up contests; things like that. Again, Salesperson City and we got to wondering how people who live there take the constant mental bombardment and crush of people.

We crossed a busy street - twice - and felt like we had just been skydiving. Laughing like fools at having survived the dash as cars made no attempt to slow down for us.