Shopaholic Hits Dhaka...
Ok... So "Shopaholic" might be pushing things abit... As all my family & good friends and my Junior should know... I'm not much of a shopper... I can't shop for very long periods of time and I don't shop for a lot of things...
I'm a targeted shopper in a sense... That means, when I shop, I must have a targeted item in mind... Jeans or a nice tee shirt or a bag or a pair of sandals or a book... (That's the normal shopping list... Most of the time, my shopping list looks more like: books, stationery, movie vcds, expensive silver things that no one else would think of buying...) Very general objectives but they give me an idea of what I need and what I am looking for... It also gives me the cue to stop when I have met that objective...
That sounds like how boys shop!
Well... Not really... I do know of certain guys who actually enjoy shopping... So there goes the stereotype... But if we talk about the rest of the guys who hate shopping.. I don't shop like them at all... They walk into a shop, see what they want, buy it and go home... I know what I want... But i still need to compare... and browse... And I do make detours when there are nice clothes or something in the window of another shop... I just need to get into the mood of shopping by starting with something in mind... If I dun get what I had in mind to buy... then it might carry over to the next shopping trip...
I'm weird, I know... So sue me...
Yesterday though, I was really in the mood to shop... I went out with the objective of buying a punjabi... At least 1 punjabi top... Otherwise, like I told Jessica, I wouldn't go back to Pathshala... I was a woman with a mission...
Jess & I went to the shops that Shalini recommended us to go... The first one was a shop called Banglar Mela... they even have their own website! http://www.banglarmela.org The prices, we were told, are fixed and the quality is good... So it seemed like a pretty safe place for us to shop at on our own... On top of that, it's just along Mirpur Road and very near Pathshala...
My goodness! It's a really nice place to shop at! There was quite a good range of Saris and Punjabis and Sawas... Even shawls to keep warm... Jessica found a Punjabi for her boyfriend... And a nice white top for herself... I got a full Punjabi suit! With the top, a scarf and pants... The top is a very nice modern print.... Blue, black & white... The scarf is white with a blue print border... And the pants are just white... It cost Tk980!! Which is about S$32... Not too shabby right? I was quite proud of that buy... Later on I bought another shawl! A nice huge maroon one... It's really warm & only cost Tk250! There was this other sawa that I saw... Tk300.. A bright red one... But decided not to buy it... cos I wanted to see the other shops first...
Later on, Jess & I went to another shop that Shalini recommended... It's called Nipun and they also had very nice clothes... But it's more expensive than Banglar Mela... I saw a very nice shawl there... Black with nice little blue flower prints... But there was a run in it and it was the last piece... So I didn't get it.. (That was before I bought the red shawl at Banglar Mela)... Jessica bought a very nice black bag from there though.... Cos her white one is turning black... I got a nice little bracelet from Nipun... cost Tk45...
So after shopping for several hours, I spent a grand total of S$40 and bought a whole new outfit! Believe me, controlling my spending was a big challenge... I may not be great at shopping... but i have a terrible problem... It's called expensive taste... It happened several times! I can be looking at a shelf of punjabis with an average price of Tk700-800... And the ones that I like and pick out... are the ones that cost Tk900-1000... Then when I was looking at the shawls at Nipun, the average price of those were aboutTk300... And the one I picked out was Tk600!! I had to convince myself that I can't spend so much money... So I started to limit myself to the not so expensive stuff...
After the shopping, Jess & I went to a little cafe called Sausly's to sit down, eat some finger food and have a coke... It was amazing to sit there and rest... We were both tired... And then there were these three little beggar boys who were having a lot of fun outside the door... We were so amused by them that Jess wanted to take their pictures... She took two pictures and we gave them each Tk2.... Very very cute...
Tomorrow is Eid... So when we were out on the streets, there were cows and goats being sold or being driven by their new owners... Some were wearing bright ribbons and things... And with more animals around, there's more poop around too... Jess & I saw a cow pee as it was being driven along... the pee made a long swiggly pattern on the road... haha! Never seen that before... Many ppl were also selling these sacks of grain... I figured it's cow feed... We couldn't imagine how the slaughter would be done... the cows were so huge! Jess & I had had the privilege of patting some smaller goats... They look so cute and everything! I actually suggested that Jess & I buy a baby goat for ourselves... We could keep that one alive for another few more months... before we leave and it gets slaughtered anyway... sigh...
And just for interest sake... Animals are not the only ones that pee on the road.... If you ever come here and see a man squatting at the side of the road... don't be alarmed... He's peeing... Dun ask me how they can do it... I guess... When you gotta go... you gotta go... =)
posted by thebemusedphotog @ 1:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home