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Review of Executive Lounges at New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS)

During my recent trip to Uttarakhand , I was faced with a problem I had never encountered before. We were passing through Delhi, but we had hardly any time in the city. On earlier visits when I have had to change trains/flights at Delhi, I have always arrived in the morning and left again at night, visiting relatives in between. This time, I was arriving in the city at night, and leaving again early in the morning. There was hardly any time to visit people. I would only have a couple of hours with them before I’d have to leave again. For the first time, we considered booking a hotel, but there again, we were hesitant about the actual hotels, the costs involved, and the logistics of getting from the airport to the railway station and then back again from the station to the airport.  That’s when we remembered reading something about a corporate-managed lounge at Delhi station. We soon figured out that we could book online and pay by the hour. Besides, we also learnt that there wasn’t ju
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Hampi Part 5 - The Hampi Bazaar


Hampi was well known for its bazaars in the days gone by, when merchants from all over the world collected here to show off their wares. From gold and diamonds to horses and cows, the markets boasted of a variety which impressed even visitors from foreign shores! These marketplaces weren’t like our roadside shops, but well planned and well laid out areas, paved with stones, with residences for the merchants as well stables for their mounts! Nothing much remains of these bazaars except the  pathways and the water tanks which mark their boundaries. Today, the name ‘Hampi Bazaar’ signifies a row of shops outside the Virupaksha temple, selling the sort of stuff which appeals to tourists…..

Like these dolls made of clay…..


Musical instruments….


Figures of the Gods and replicas of the Hampi ruins made in stone…





A closer look….


We loved this autorickshaw….


And especially this one of Krishna stealing milk from a cow….


There were a few useful stone products…


Garlands of beads….. and stones of course…


But did we buy any? No! they were terribly expensive….. and targeted at the foreign tourists. The shopkeepers didn’t even pay us Indians much attention, because they knew we wouldn’t shell out so much for these things! And when I asked one of them if she or her family had made these, she stared at me as if I was mad, and replied, “They come from a factory somewhere! Nobody here makes these things anymore!” 

This post is part of the Lonely Planet Blogsherpa Travel Carnival - The Marketplace - hosted by Kiran Keswani of Indian Bazaars.

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Location: Hampi, Karnataka, India

Comments

  1. suma bJanuary 19, 2012 at 2:01 PM

    Hey nice write up. We have missed many place in Hampi & Anegundi coz of Lack of time. Felt good to read about them through ur blogs... My  Hampi Blog...
    http://relivingmyfavouritemoments.blogspot.com/2012/01/hampi-part-1-hemakuta-hillshampi-bazzar.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 29, 2012 at 12:40 PM

    Actuall al vil post the monumnts of hampi. But u posted the market n how d ppl wil be.. Ya i really liked ur blog.

    Sir/Madam, me also created first weblog.
    so follow this link :
    http://basavaraj16291.blogspot.com

    here you can see the most beautiful snap from World Heritage Site Hampi. So please visit to my Blog and Add your Expression through your Valuable COMMENTS.
    Thank You.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 31, 2018 at 11:33 AM

    The handicrafts looks amazing!

    ReplyDelete

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