We had been planning to buy some fancy lamp shades for our house for sometime now. Last weekend we finally made the trip to Ezra Street, part of the wholesale electronic goods market, in search of the perfect light. What an interesting trip it turned out to be.
Hubby and I took the metro from Garia, the half hour journey was uneventful and we alighted at the Central station. This was the first time I was there. OMG, how massive that construction was. On my own I might have had to ask a dozen people for help to go out of the desired gate. Salute to the metro designer/planners for making such a maze for public to play with on a daily basis, that too free!
After resurfacing we looked for Poddar Court - a reputed commercial complex known for its office spaces and electronic goods market. From the metro exit we walked into a market area, filthy road, goods vehicles parked on the sides, human carriers running about with loads on their head or back. We crossed this mess of a road to reach the huge Poddar Court complex. The Jakia street, where this building is, is a one way and vehicles are not allowed to park or stop there by order. The hand carts an exception and in plenty - maybe because they are not motorized vehicles?
That building was full of shops selling electrical goods - fans, lights, fittings. We walked into a big shop, the dazzlers all neatly hooked up. I loved a couple of them, but the sales person was irritated, "aapni egulo niye ki korben, porishkar rakhte parben na. Lagiyei toh bhule jaben." (Why do you want to take these, you won't be able to clean them. You will fix them and forget.) Well, he repeated that for almost all the things that I looked twice at. So we walked out and into a smaller shop this time. The lights were pretty and so were their prices. After these two encounters, we went looking for Ezra Street, the right light place, as was recommended by our friends.
It's a narrow but very busy street. Small tempo trucks, hand carts and human carriers with big loads on themselves blocked the street. However, people were freely moving in and out with numerous boxes in hand. We chose to enter a shop close to the entrance. The elegance of the place was lesser in comparison to the Poddar Court shops. With the drop in show the prices dipped too. Things which we had seen in the earlier shops were available at much lower rates.
We thought of exploring the shops further down the road. A little ahead, where the road narrowed a bit more, we saw a light 'bazaar' on the right. It was full of lamp shades, heaps of them on the tables and loads still in boxes. The place reminded me of the general vegetable market. Some of the hanging lights were lit. There were shops after shops in that little place. With no showmanship the prices slashed drastically. We were amazed by the collection and their prices. We hopped around with lust and greed reflecting from our eyes for those lovely shiny things.
There were chandeliers that would change colors, one would rotate, on another we could play music using an USB stick, lamps in various shapes and sizes, handmade and China cut, wood, brass or steel bracket. Phew!
After checking out most of the shops there, we decided to buy some. We picked a ceramic chandelier, one set of spotlights and two sets of marble printed double shades. This was all we could carry, so had to call it a day.
By then it was lunch time and the lovely smell of the street food cried out to us. With a tummy load of kachori-sabji-jalebi and our 'light' boxes, we were too heavy to walk to the metro station, so we caught a running taxi and jumped in.
The second visit will happen soon and more pictures will be added here of the shining place - this time we were too dazzled to click. Do check back!
Hubby and I took the metro from Garia, the half hour journey was uneventful and we alighted at the Central station. This was the first time I was there. OMG, how massive that construction was. On my own I might have had to ask a dozen people for help to go out of the desired gate. Salute to the metro designer/planners for making such a maze for public to play with on a daily basis, that too free!
After resurfacing we looked for Poddar Court - a reputed commercial complex known for its office spaces and electronic goods market. From the metro exit we walked into a market area, filthy road, goods vehicles parked on the sides, human carriers running about with loads on their head or back. We crossed this mess of a road to reach the huge Poddar Court complex. The Jakia street, where this building is, is a one way and vehicles are not allowed to park or stop there by order. The hand carts an exception and in plenty - maybe because they are not motorized vehicles?
That building was full of shops selling electrical goods - fans, lights, fittings. We walked into a big shop, the dazzlers all neatly hooked up. I loved a couple of them, but the sales person was irritated, "aapni egulo niye ki korben, porishkar rakhte parben na. Lagiyei toh bhule jaben." (Why do you want to take these, you won't be able to clean them. You will fix them and forget.) Well, he repeated that for almost all the things that I looked twice at. So we walked out and into a smaller shop this time. The lights were pretty and so were their prices. After these two encounters, we went looking for Ezra Street, the right light place, as was recommended by our friends.
It's a narrow but very busy street. Small tempo trucks, hand carts and human carriers with big loads on themselves blocked the street. However, people were freely moving in and out with numerous boxes in hand. We chose to enter a shop close to the entrance. The elegance of the place was lesser in comparison to the Poddar Court shops. With the drop in show the prices dipped too. Things which we had seen in the earlier shops were available at much lower rates.
We thought of exploring the shops further down the road. A little ahead, where the road narrowed a bit more, we saw a light 'bazaar' on the right. It was full of lamp shades, heaps of them on the tables and loads still in boxes. The place reminded me of the general vegetable market. Some of the hanging lights were lit. There were shops after shops in that little place. With no showmanship the prices slashed drastically. We were amazed by the collection and their prices. We hopped around with lust and greed reflecting from our eyes for those lovely shiny things.
There were chandeliers that would change colors, one would rotate, on another we could play music using an USB stick, lamps in various shapes and sizes, handmade and China cut, wood, brass or steel bracket. Phew!
After checking out most of the shops there, we decided to buy some. We picked a ceramic chandelier, one set of spotlights and two sets of marble printed double shades. This was all we could carry, so had to call it a day.
By then it was lunch time and the lovely smell of the street food cried out to us. With a tummy load of kachori-sabji-jalebi and our 'light' boxes, we were too heavy to walk to the metro station, so we caught a running taxi and jumped in.
The second visit will happen soon and more pictures will be added here of the shining place - this time we were too dazzled to click. Do check back!
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