Guest Post #2 - What it meant to shop a long time ago:

Deepa is our guest blogger of the day. when i asked her to send me 2-3 lines about herself, this is what she wrote "Think of that quiet introvert you had sitting in the corner of your class in school. I am that girl. But a lot has changed since, I got a fancy degree in math, found my other half, realized I love paper and visual+mathematical-ish patterns. Lest you think I'm a geek, I should tell you I am that too among many other things"

Then she sidetracked and told me not to use this... but I am mean that way! Deepa masquerades as a Functional Analyst with JDA but is a closet photographer, deep thinker and rabid reader. She is also the godmother of my dog. If you want excellent profile pictures or gorgeous wedding pictures you know who to call. Check out her flickr stream here 

Read on......

I have taken a mad fancy to shopping for clothes online. Shopping in malls is not for me. I get claustrophobic and it's depressing to think that everything is mass manufactured and that something I own will also be owned by someone else. I was thinking about all this I noticed this guy, carrying a basket on his head which had both clothes and some steel utensils.

 It struck me that this was a sight I had not seen in a very long time. I never thought I’d see people like him again after all these years.

I remember my grandmother would indulge in this barter trade long after we reached a point in life where she did not need to. The haggling used to sound very strange to my ears.

Grandma: Two saris for that utensil.

Barter dude: Nahin amma, who nahin chalta…ye bartan dekho…Ye sari toh phata hua hau aur bahaut purana hai, nahin chalta.

His survival still depends on the barter system! He actually trades old clothes for utensils.

To think that shopping has evolved from that to my buys online today, is really something.