A Travellerspoint blog

COMMONLY SEEN IN THE STREETS OF BANGALORE

Here are a few of the things that are commonly found in the streets of Bangalore. I have not included cars, cycles, and auto-rickshaws.

The rangoli ('kolam' in Tamil Nadu) is a geometric pattern traced outside entrances to buildings every morning. During the day, the rangoli becomes damaged by footsteps of those entering and leaving the building. Every day, a new rangoli is traced out using either white or coloured powders. The rangoli is designed to bring good luck.

large_Rangoli_2.jpg

The mochi is a shoe repairer or cobbler. In Bangalore, many of them set up shop on the pavement. The mochi works with his fingers and toes, and often repairs bags and cases in addition to shoes and sandals.

MOCHI_2.jpgHealing_hands_640.jpg

The dhobi is a professional clothes and linen launderer and ironer, usually a man. Many dhobis ply their trade in small barrows on the pavement often in residential areas. Most, if not all dhobis, use heavy metal irons filled with glowing charcoals.

Dhobi_500.jpg

Feeling thirsty? If you are lucky, you can find a pavement sugar cane juice seller with his sugar cane press that squeezes the juices out of sugar canes. Tastes good, but be careful if you are worried about food poisoning, as the glasses are not always too clean!

CANE.jpg

Beggars there are aplenty in Bangalore. Many of them are mutilated, and they often 'prey' upon drivers and passengers sitting in or on their vehicles whilst awaiting traffic lights to cahange from red to green. Some unfortunate individuals wheetl theselves along on little trollies, others are pushed along in carts.

Cows are to India what windmills are to Holland and pubs are to the the UK. Cattle are all over the place, grazing on whatever urban waste material they come across. Every now and then in Bangalore, you can spot shelters where the cows are milked.

COW.jpgCow_shed.jpg

All over Bangalore you will see PUNCHER shops or stalls. They are simply places where tires with punctures may be replaced or repaired.

large_PUNCHER.jpg

Hungry? Why not buy a snack at a chaat stall? Word of warning: hygiene should be considered before considering consumption!

large_Chaat_1.jpg

There is no shortage of street sellers in Bangalore. They sell everything from snacks to shirts, from fruit to foot wear, from belts to books, from toothpaste to tomatoes, from hats to hair-clips, and so on.

large_VEG_SELLER.jpg

The hijra is a transvestite. They make their living by accepting donations in exchange for conferring blessings. In Bangalore, they are often found soliciting from people waiting in vehicles at red traffic lights. A small donation will buy you a blessing.

large_hij.jpg

The observant visitor will spot many more interesting things on or besides the streets of Bangalore. What is described above are some of the more common sights. I would love to have included a horse-drawn tonga, but so far I have never taken a good photograph of one.

Posted by ADAMYAMEY 02:39 Archived in India Tagged streets bangalore vendors dhobi bengaluru hijra rangoli

Email this entryFacebookStumbleUpon

Table of contents

Comments

Very interesting blog! I love street photography and capturing these little details of daily life

by ToonSarah

Thanks, Sarah

by ADAMYAMEY

This blog requires you to be a logged in member of Travellerspoint to place comments.

Login