Let's go to Comm St......

Retail Therapy – the one thing that definitely works for me. When am sad, when am happy or when I’am sick too a little of shopping can do wonders to me.

Inspite of all the malls that have sprouted in Bangalore City the one place that I used to haunt when in college and now is Commercial Street. Among my relatives the common joke that they have is if they don’t find me home then am there. Don’t get it wrong am not always spending. I like window shopping, shopping for others and even don’t mind having chaats from the various available places there so why won’t I be there.

During college times, eateries were not easily located like it is now inspite of my college being in Koramangala. I know most of the new Bangaloreans can’t imagine that. So there have been many times when with friends we would have come to comm. St to eat. The bhagatram which is there now was a very small shop which used to open the shop at 4 or something like that which I don’t remember completely and when it opens it used to be with hot yummy gulab jamuns and samosas which was unmatched in taste. Now they have a huge variety of savouries and snacks and a bigger seating area to accommodate the hungry shoppers especially the men folk for obvious reasons On the parallel st of Comm st at Ibrahim street there used to be a line of cart vendors who used to serve some delicious south Indian fare – dosas and idlis and of course fried rice which you can call south Indian now with the adapted taste. Now the number of carts have dwindled and unfortunately I have reduced eating from there because of the unending road work that happens there, the food am sure is trying its best to retain its hygiene quality. Shiv Sagar restaurant which is found in one of the bylanes of Comm st to Dispensary road was one of my later discoveries. It’s one of the most crowded restaurants there and has got a good fare of south and north Indian dishes along with a surprising menu of Mexican dishes. Of course it does not claim any authentic taste but the tortillas there are definitely worth a try. Anand Sweets near to the Krishnaiah Chetty Jewellers almost at the entrance of Comm st is another place which I like visiting for the chaats that are available. This was the place that I discovered paneer pakoda and even now end up eating that most of the time. One other place which I love eating at for the variety it offers in South Indian tiffin items is Woody’s. Definitely the most overpriced of the lot mentioned above but a must try to have a peek into the taste of the different dosas, idlis etc.

(Photo Courtesy: A Friend's flickr stream http://www.flickr.com/photos/n-a-s/)

Shopping for clothes in Comm st started with my father’s yearly visit to ‘Garden’ where every year he picks a saree for mother religiously on their anniversary. As he never used to venture beyond that it was self venturing in college which introduced me into the clothes paradise. Many people argue with me periodically telling that Chickpet offers better price and that malls are better as its less crowded; believe me I have tried and agree to disagree. I have this habit of imagining how I want a dress and then go searching for the material and I get only when I go there though I might go to 2-3 shops but eventually get it exactly like how I imagined. In college or my first years of working it used to be atleast 1 visit a month for clothes but now as I know most of the shops and what it offers I go with anyone who wants to go shopping so it’s more times than that The dupatta street or the street that has most of the salwar stores and the Ibrahim st with the silver plaza, gold plaza etc are the stores that normally offer the best prices and variety and one of the other regular store for salwars for me has been DCM. Of course with the advent of Max in the city it’s a definite yes for the kurtas and casuals they offer. It’s not like I only buy clothes for women here. Clothes for menfolk are slightly easier, Mega mart or Wearhouse serves most of their needs and then of course Max for the casual fare.

Apart from the clothes shopping for accessories also are a sure shot. I used to shop for jewellery sets from Estelle and once it was gone from a one gram gold jewellery store at commercial plaza and have not been disappointed. As I hate gold jewellery I prefer this for occasions. This was only for exclusive accessories and otherwise with the variety of others offered on the street itself it’s a treat for the eyes and definitely an easy way of choosing for occasion coz they help with finding the right thing for right occasion – Bangles and earrings galore. Ok I was almost about to forget the slippers and shoes that you can get here. The trends for college students are introduced here and then taken for a walk with a storm around the city.

So with the festival holidays this week and for the coming up festivals Comm st jaana tho banta hai.

Ok then catch you there or later.

SMS

2bhk flat for 20lac at hebbal! Ready flats with 100% loan ! Call Now: 99……..


With atleast 20 messages about new readily available flats, 5-6 messages on discounts on products and of course 2-3 millions I win daily for some random reason am all set to roll on a message deleting spree throughout the day. Am sure most of you are wondering so why I don’t put myself into a “DND” (Do not Disturb) list or something like that. The simple reason while in the process deleting these I have read some of the messages and actually mind you have got introduced to some new service or product through this and found it to be useful.

At the advent of sms marketing atleast for me were when people started adding me on to mginger where they started the technique by sending emails to friends to add them on to the bandwagon. Not knowing the consequence we all had innocently invited most of our friends to this future volcano of sms ads. The intensity of these increased when stores at the purchase of even the smallest of things asked us to fill a form which would have a survey and then for sure a request for email id and phone number. The result the local boutique, neighbourhood kirana guy all started sending sms on sale which is eternally happening in their stores and of course to add on to the misery there were the advent of internet sites through which sms can be sent for free.

I don’t completely dislike receiving these messages coz one my biggest purchases till date my apartment was from a message I received through this. We had searched across town for about 2 years looking for that perfect place which should just click inside as ‘this is it’ when a message that I received made me make that call to set the appointment with the marketing guy. My husband and I went to the place with the least of hopes but to our surprise we liked it and was overjoyed when the advocate also confirmed it was legitimate and booked the flat.

In one other occurrence I was trying to buy a baby’s walker for my niece and had gone to many shops and found all downmarket stuff and was losing hope as the baby’s birthday was nearing. At that time I got a message from a store which sold branded kid’s stuff and I booked from then and received a good one in a day’s time with everything intact and perfect packing. So I have had this experience of some messages being a response to my telepathic communication.

SMS marketing though running into controversies because of the time loss it causes people invites a lot of laws and regulation. For e.g when the messages of winning money goes to people not everyone understands that it’s a fake one and ends up contacting the people who are frauds and makes them buy B grade products from them. Like many of the other marketing/advertising tool this when handled with caution by the sender and receiver could be useful to an extent.