Retail Therapy, Bangalore Style

A Hermes display window in Bangalore, India

You know how it is when you're stressed and homebound, worrying about a sick family member. Well, hopefully you don't know, but for a period of a couple years, that was us, visiting India with our two little ones to spend time with a loved one whose days, we knew, were numbered. Our one simple diversion was taking an autorickshaw into the city to do some window shopping, off Commercial Street,  Brigade Road, or MG Road. (Side note, the initials of that last one stand for Mahatma Gandhi, who, wherever he is, is surely cringing at the excessive consumerism now associated with his name).

In the city's northwest suburb of Malleshwaram, there's also this narrow little street, known as 8th Cross, skewered by a maze of bustling side lanes, all thick with crowds of locals trolling the tiny shops, little kiosks, and sidewalk hawkers that satisfy most all of their shopping needs. We didn't need much, just a diversion, something to get us out of the house for a bit, and let the kids buy some trinkets and unusual little novelties. But we all enjoyed taking in the street scenes, flower art and fruit vendors among them. Take a gander.