KR market is one of the largest markets in Bangalore. Past these gates you can find everything from gold jewelry and textbooks on engineering to fresh mangos and silk saris.
Places where people shop
Places where people eat
Places where people work
Places where people live
These are the places that define the city
And these are the places that give life to the city
Most of the fruit and vegetable vendors at KR are located outside and sell off tarps and underneath umbrellas
Should you, while on your travels happen through Bangalore, prepare your body. The markets are alive, the jasmine at the flower stands is as fresh as the cow dung on the street, and the smells are just as you would imagine. You'll hear children crying, fruit merchants sceaming their prices, rickshaws honking their way through crowds of people, and a cow mooing on the sidewalk. You'll see every color in the rainbow and the millions of others that aren't in the rainbow, unless of course if you're colorblind. You'll see more people than you could ever imagine and everyone loves staring at eachother.
The flower bazaar at KR is renowned throughout the states as the go to place to get the freshest flowers. From marigolds and roses to jasmine and orchids, they can all be found in one place.
KR market on a not so busy afternoon
Commercial Street Market on the night before Eid. There wasn't even space to walk around.
However this is entirely dependent on what type of market you visit. India has shown itself to be both an extremely developed place at times, as well as a place where millions of people don't have clean drinking water. This means that India is home to both some of the worlds largest open markets like KR Market as well hi-fi shopping Malls that have marble floors and big air conditioned cinemas.
Mantri Mall on a Saturday evening. Notice how there are much fewer people than KR or Comercial.
On this trip I've been priveleged enough to see both of these spaces and I must say that they are both spectacular in their own ways. Both the markets and malls are impressive in their own rights, yet they demonstrate a larger more complex issue in India, the massive wealth disparity. I'll speak more on this in another post but for now please enjoy some pictures I took.