Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Shopping in Guwahati: Experience now and then

                 Whenever I think about Shopping in Guwahati, nostalgic memories of  evening  at Paltanbazar area of Guwahati comes to my mind. As a kid we were awestruck by the claustrophobic atmosphere of Paltanbazar. Hurly burly of fly-by-night
 shoppers ogling and touching goods displayed by incessantly shouting hawkers would often compel ups to leave that place in a jiffy, but minds would be filled by the brightly displayed knick knacks  and toys and the cacophony of the hawkers. That place was no less than some wonderland.

Later when we grew up the magnificence of  that place also reduced like many other things in life. But still when I plan a non-virtual shopping at the city of Guwhati that night vision of Paltanbazar would come to my mind. I think this must have happen to many other people who have lived life in other lesser known towns and villages of Assam and needed to come to the city of Guwahati for various reasons. 

As I have told earlier the buyers in the Paltanbazar area were and are mostly  travellers. For road and rail Travellers from the entire the North East Paltanbazar is the unavoidable rendezvous.  So things required in a journey are obvious choice of the buyers in that area. In a bid to please members leaving back at home the buyers would often buy toys and accessories in a hurry and it was obvious that the hawkers would have thrived on the hurried sellers who were either  reluctant or not-so-expert in jaw-biting bargains. As for myself I became aware Fancy Bazar of Guwahati which is considered the  mecca of shopping in Guwahati. People not only from other places of Assam but also from the entire North East would like to throng in the Fancy Bazar for a good deal in their shopping. For weddings, for puja and Bihu Shopping Fancy bazar have served like one stop destination including the Lakhtokia area where you would find cheaper version of every branded goods from watch to shoes to handbags. But as days are passing by, the advent of hub, and branded showrooms and departmental stores in areas like Dispur, Bhangagarh etc and the unavoidable trafficcongestion of Guwahati, lack of adequate parking facilities in and around Fancy  and often lack of attractive food joints shoppers have perhaps shifted loyalty to first departmental stores and then to the eCommerce giants like flipkart, Myntra etc who would save you from venturing out in heat and  traffic jam, bargains and wasting your valuable time in long travels. 

Even than we as shoppaholics could discuss shopping experience in Guwahati, favourite destinations for speciafic items and shopping tips, location ideas for a fulfilling shopping experience in Guwahati. Hope tips would come pouring and my readers won''t mind sharing happy and unhappy shopping experinces in and around Guwahati. 

NB: SHOPPING EXPERIENCES WILL BE SHARED IN THIS BLOG WITH PROPER ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE NAME OF THE SHOPPER FRIEND.

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