The Ranganathan street is a famous place for shopping in chennai, it is like the mini chickpet or avenue road of bangalore. The analogy I draw here only establishes the feel for the place nowhere near close to describing its appearance.
I was warned beforehand about this place, but my curiosity got me for the better. The day I was on this street was right after Pongal, one of the biggest festivals in southern India, celebrated with great ardor and pompous show. The drive to Ranganathan street was very pleasant, going from sterling road nungambakkam through to usman road.
The sight that awaits you at the end of this journey is nothing short of breathtaking, suffocating and overwhelming all at the same time. Alighting my the auto right at the end of the flyover, I was greeted to a show of lights, a dazzling display of greens, yellows and oranges. The streets on Usman road were clogged to a small extent, I was beguiled at the appearance. As I walked led by my aunt, I bumped into a few people, lost my aunts hand for a second but quickly regained it. There were numerous street peddlers selling fancy trinkets, nothing the sort i had not seen in Bangalore.
In a few moments of pondering and maneuvering I reached ranganathan street, the street was clogged with people. The only comparison I could draw was commercial street and that does not even cut the mark, there were no chances of vehicular movement on the street, the people were choker blocked. Tall building flanked me on both sides, saravana stores, jeyachandran textiles, the flashing lights, small ice cream stalls, Gobi Manchurian vendors, this one street could cut the records.
I was accompanying my mother and aunts on a shopping spree. I have heard you should never go shopping with women, the corollary to that never go shopping with 3 women. I was stuck at hours end while shopping for sarees, gold and various other trinkets. The one odd thing was that there were no chairs at any of the shops, absolutely none, except for the gold shop. This meant I was either standing clueless or wandering aimless in the aisles, sometimes caring to venture out to the streets for a breath of fresh air.
I was accompanying my mother and aunts on a shopping spree. I have heard you should never go shopping with women, the corollary to that never go shopping with 3 women. I was stuck at hours end while shopping for sarees, gold and various other trinkets. The one odd thing was that there were no chairs at any of the shops, absolutely none, except for the gold shop. This meant I was either standing clueless or wandering aimless in the aisles, sometimes caring to venture out to the streets for a breath of fresh air.
I was always under the impression my family had a fetish for gold, fool me not, but the amount of gold I saw people buy in the close to half hour in the gold shop, made me understand gold rush. I would never say gold was a precious metal at the speed which it was sold.
Tired and famished I finally retreated a quick getaway to another smaller shop right at the very mention. The last shop we visited was on the usman road and a relatively quiet one, after this it was a happy ride back home to dinner. A truly awe inspiring experience, huge buildings to cater to people's shopping sprees. The women in Bangalore have no clue what they are missing out on!!
