A Market Morning

-

Around two years ago, on a Thursday morning, I woke up feeling insanely blue. The thought of going to college felt unbearable. After minutes of reflection and thorough calculations about my attendance percentages, I decided to bunk. However, I couldn’t go back to sleep. I felt weirdly restless. I hopped out of bed and decided to take a walk. Staying in Basavanagudi had its perks (a lot of them), Gandhi Bazar was just a couple of lanes away. I got dressed, grabbed my camera and headed straight to the flower market.

It was quarter to eight, and the market was just coming to life. Vendors were settling into their usual spots, prepping for the day ahead. Fresh loads of flowers had arrived, flooding the morning air with rich scents. The Sun shone shyly, giving the colorful flowers a tinge of contouring.

           

The following day was Vara Mahalakshmi Vrata and thus, it was busier than usual. People bustled through the market looking at what every vendor had to offer and most importantly, at what price. Women examined the freshness of the flowers with great suspicion and bargained aggressively. Husbands who came alone for the purchase, most of them stopping on their way to work, seemed greatly confused with the sizes of the garland they ought to buy. Some resorted to video calling their wives, others held up photos of their deity’s frame to the vendors, hoping for guidance (thanks to modern technology, these men could ace garland shopping). Camera in hand, I camouflaged into this chaos. 








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dr Rajkumar and The Gokak Movement: Cinema Stars Beyond Silver Screen

-
Image
  Karnataka witnessed one of its most defining movements in the 1980s, a landmark in post-independence India’s language-centric struggles. It all began when the then Chief Minister, D. Devaraj Urs, made a bold decision to move Sanskrit from the first-language category to the third-language group. This move elevated Kannada and all languages of the land, including minority languages to the first- and second-language categories. Urs aimed to correct a trend where Kannada, the state’s official language, was being sidelined, especially in English-medium schools, where it often ended up as the least preferred option. The roots of this issue were traced back to Sanskrit being offered as the first language in Karnataka’s high schools. This arrangement meant many Kannadiga students could complete high school without ever studying their native tongue. Urs's policy was a step towards addressing this imbalance. However, in 1980, after Urs lost power, the new Chief Minister, R. Gundu Rao, reve...
Read more

The Festival Soundtrack; Yet Another Display of the Folk’s Engagement With Art.

-
Image
Every year, numerous Ganesha pendals set up across the state herald the arrival of September. They are set up with great effort, incorporating various aspects of ritual tradition and regional culture, often competing with each other. Pop culture invariably makes its way to these pendals; largely influencing the decorations, idol designs and the most evident of all, the pendal soundtracks. Over the decade, pop music has emerged as a celebrated part of Ganesha Habba. From orchestra performances to playing DJ remixes during visarjane, pop music has found its way into what is largely perceived as devotional gathering.   It is so prevalent that it almost seems organic.   Songs like ‘Deva Shree Ganesha’ from Agneepath and ‘Shambu Sutaya’ from ABCD have emerged to become synonymous with the festival across the country. While ‘Gajamukhane Ganapathiye’ is indispensable; people grooving to ‘Kenchalo Manchalo’ is also long standing in Karnataka. Any regional song with a catchy tun...
Read more