Shopping in Jaipur – Bazaars, Bikes and Besan
If it ain’t crowded, it ain’t a bazaar. I know that, but still…. All that you’ve have in mind about a bazaar comes true the moment you step into one in the Pink City. Jaipur’s old walled city is a burst of colours, smells and sounds. Johar Bazaar, Bapu Bazaar and Tripolia Bazaar are the three main market areas of the city. Don’t be fooled by the name ‘market’, cos you get anything and everything in the shops here.
As the whole old city is painted pink, it is difficult to distinguish between shops, medical stores, restaurants and bus stops. But what keeps the shopping areas unique are the colourful wares displayed outside them. The roads leading to most bazaars here are crowded, with about four lanes of traffic on one side, coupled with loads of hawkers, handcarts, two-wheelers and pedestrians. Foreigners visiting the bazaars should have some prior experience in shopping on Indian streets otherwise it’ll be almost a nightmare!
The sweet shops are awesome – the soft smells wafting outta the bakeries beckon you from metres away and once there, you wouldn’t wanna leave! There’s peeni, besan laddoos, kaju kathlis and jalebis. The lassi and chaats are refreshingly tasty; the Rajasthani sweets come in kilo-count boxes; the savouries and fries should be had there itself, for the best tastes.
What to pick up: Textiles are what most tourists buy in Jaipur. Though they are priced double of what they’ll cost you in Delhi’s Dilli Haat or Janpath, most of us still buy from Jaipur only for the variety and the idea that it is more authentic here. You can get shawls, stoles, skirts, kurtas, saris, and more. Jewellery is a good option. Lots and lots of trinkets can be bought from Jaipur’s bazaars. The inlaid stone work, for which Rajasthan is famous, can be found in most jewellery shops and curio shops. Wooden toys, souvenirs, terracotta wares, red sandstone sculptures are interesting gift items to take back.
Jaipur is one of the cities in the Golden Triangle – others being Delhi and Agra – and the tour is incomplete without visiting the other two. Each bazaar is connected with the other by small, pucca roads. People teem in the shops quite in the morning itself. Tourists, too, end up here by early forenoon to start bargaining and shopping.
Sometimes just looking around at life in the bazaars, and not buying anything, can turn out to be absolutely delightful. Like all Indian cities, the sounds and sights are more than enough to fill your senses.
