Gandhi Bazaar v. Walmart

I just read on CNN that Walmart is looking into expanding its business in India. This is awful news to me. I can't imagine what Walmart would do to India.

When I was in India this past April, I loved going to the markets. My favorite market is Gandhi Bazaar in Bangalore... what a beautiful place! Fresh vegetables, fresh flowers of every color woven into long beautiful garlands, open shops everywhere with shopkeepers trying to keep your business... it's such a vibrant place with an energy that cannot be found in any retail store anywhere in the world. There's also Loi Bazaar in Vrindavan, which is SUPER cool. In that bazaar, you can find beautiful silver shops, people making fresh sweets in the streets in huge vats of oil, and saris of every style.

When I was in Delhi, my cousin took me shopping and the first places she took me were to some of the new malls that had opened close by. I would walk into these malls and for a split second, I would completely forget that I was in India... they looked exactly like an American mall. The only difference was that these malls carried Indian clothes in some departments... they even played American music at these malls like Nelly Furtado and the theme song from The Breakfast Club!

I hated these malls. To make matters worse, they were completely overpriced.

Towards the end of my stay in Delhi, my cousin finally took me to the local market, where you walk into a clothing store and the shopkeeper shows you his merchandise according to your budget and taste. The best thing about shopping in these small stores is that you walk up to a table in front of the shopkeeper and the table is clean and empty. And then all of a sudden, the shopkeeper pulls fabrics from the shelves behind him, unravelling them before your eyes and spreading them across the table in front of you. And it's fabric after fabric after fabric. Silk and cotton, then a cotton-silk mix and synthetic, and finally chiffon. There's skirts, and salwars and sarees, layered on top of each other. At the end you have a pile of color that measures a foot high.

I have to admit that this is not always the most efficient way for a customer to choose her wares, but boy it is fun for me. I told this to my cousin and she said, "Oh why didn't you say that before... I thought you would prefer the malls!" That couldn't be far from the truth.

When I hear that Walmart might go to India, I just hope that this big, ugly corporate giant of American doesn't ruin the experience of market shopping in India.