On a cold wintery day I caught a bus to the area where a flea market was to be held.My husband had grudgingly accompanied me as his idea of a Saturday morning was not shopping.So there I was guilty and uncertain about my plans .
In India ,my home land, there are no flea markets as such.I had read about flea markets in books and they had facinated me.I read once in a book that flea markets owe their name to the flea circuses that once were famous in fairs.Fleas are tick like insects that can be trained to do tricks !In Germany these markets are called "flu markt"
Upon reaching the venue,which was a huge open ground,I saw a crowd of people and rows and rows of stalls.The stalls had an amazing variety of things on sale,like clothes and bags from Paris.These stalls were mostly owned by Bangladeshis and Pakistanis.Having discovered that we spoke Hindi they were full of smiles and offered discounts!
Some stalls had things the owners wanted to dispose off as in second hand goods.these were mostly crockery ,crafts ,paintings,books and an assortment of oddities which even my husband found very interesting .Most of the stuff were in pretty good shape and quite inexpensive.
There were things that captured the essence of Europe like dutch delftware ,wooden shoes from Holland,landscapes of Italy and France on silk,large cowbells from Switzerland ,wooden cuckoo clocks and dainty crockery from England .
Bargaining comes naturally to me and I had a fun time getting stuff for cheap.I also discovered soon that my attempts at speaking German (with my stunted vocabulary)was rewarded in terms of discounts.I also noticed that some stalls with old toys were taken care of by children supervised by their parents.I gathered that the parents wanted the children to learn from the experience in terms of the art of selling and handling money.
Personally this was an opportunity got to know the vibe of the Germans in a relaxed atmoshere and i treasured it.There was a section with rides for the children and stalls selling icecream.Despite the cold,apparently people still love their icecreams in Germany and so do I!.So licking a delicious'erdberry eis' my husband and I headed back home and taking with us memories of an unexpectedly lovely day..
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Congrats on your first post! Hope to see more...
aah! this font doesnot open in IE6!
good post. i remember the time when i first visited flea markets in goa. it was during Xmas time, which happens to be the peak season of goa tourism.
it was overflowing with people, plus the prices were really high. "relaxed atmosphere" eh! lucky you
Hey dear, it's a treat to read anything coming from you.. Ever since I have come to the UK, I have hated the country with all my heart, maybe because I am terribly homesick. But this post of yours made me feel so much better, perhaps I had forgotten to open my mind before I landed here. All my life I have been very open minded but everything got switched off before I came here I guess! A big thank you for opening my mind again! Nice article, write many more, looking forward to you next post :-)
Thanks Rammy,Sneha n Rithu 4 taking the time to read my blog !.Thanks again 4 ur sweet comments n encouragement.Love ya all.
hey good write up :) keep them coming..
well ..being a psychology enthusiast frm bangalore i can say the author must have a great brother..and analysing the document leaves me with little doubt tht the oli way the subject can achieve peace is by buying her brother a 160 gb ipod..
Is the B'lore shrink referring to himself as the client or subject here? And does his request for an iPod as a response to this entry imply that you buy one that you find in a flea market? In which case, it shouldn't cost you much sis!
on a more serious note..i find tht ashwini has matured greatly both as a person and as a writer..owing partly to travel and partly to marriage. her writing is simple and the narrative effective.the cultural sensibilities and perceptional flexibilities of the author form a backdrop to the animated and at times touching travelogue.her ability to view a situation from several hypothetical vantage points(new found?)is what makes her and her ideas interesting ... i hate the author for a job well done thus depriving me of the simple pleasure of poking fun at her writing..keep writing sista!..
as for my freudian cousin ..........the subject and object of the analysis hardly concern me ...the i pod does!
Im glad anand my bro n biggest critic has taken the time 2 critique my humble blogs .
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