Shopping Delhi

amongst many, many, MANY others!

I am writing about this new shopping arcade (though the owners call it a mall, it is nothing beyond an arcade) called ‘Gaur Gravity’ in Indirapuram.

Now, most of my updates may look a little skewed towards East Delhi/Noida but of late my shopping has been limited to these areas. So I acknowledge that and intend to change it as well.

Coming back! Indirapuram is the newest offering by Delhi’s very own ‘Ghajiabad’, or GaBad (as DTC buses display on the boards of ALT buses). There are Cities and Mega Cities and Gardens and Mansions and Orchids and Counties and Towers and Avenues and Residencies….phew!…all in one Puram in Ghaziabad. And each one of these colonies have a shopping area within the vicinity.

Gaur Green City has just opened a new shopping area called Gaur Gravity which is built on 3 floors and happens to be at a very strategic location. The shops are yet to begin and currently one can see LG Shoppe, Sun Sweets (a sweet shop that opened only today - and gave us a reason to indulge again since everything was so fresh - first day), Reliance Fresh (opening soon, though one wonders what they’re waiting for!), Archies Gallery (coming soon again), AKS Interia (for designing the homes that are in abundance in this area), a gift shop and a very nice kiddies clothes shop called ‘Sparkles’.

Sparkles is a small shop owned by a lady who stocks ‘International Brands at Indian Prices’. It came at just the right time as I was hunting for a birthday gift for a 2 yr old girl with my neighbour at Shipra Mall - that’s a stone throw away… and we went shrieking all the way - seeing the prices! Not that we were so illiterate about kids-wear being this expensive, but somehow we were completely drained after that trip. So we did buy something nice from Shoppers’ Stop at Shipra Mall but that was spending too much time. So the prices at Sparkles were compelling enough to buy once again.

In a way it is just a little sophisticated, well stocked, relevantly stocked Export Hut. But they have no trash. And they have a showroom. And they have sizes for everything. So it is not mere export-surplus-by-weight. The prices are about 50-75% more than Export Shops, yet about 1/3rd of any decent Indian brand. So if you’re buying for a kid, especially a girl - must visit! The designs are to die for.

The shopping arcade seems to be big enough (like a Shopprix at sector 61 in Noida) and there are many shops coming on the way. Why, they even have an escalator in the open area. There would be definitely a first-mover’s advantage, besides being so well located. So looking forward.

- The rest you’ll get at Lajpat Nagar

How many times have you heard people rave about The Lajpat Nagar Market and felt either unimpressed or uninitiated? Most of us have most of the time. Yet some of us know Lajpat Nagar like back of their hand since it is undoubtedly one of the most self-sufficient, be-all and end-all, colorful and most importantly best-bargains market place. (I still belong to the former lot).

I‘m here to share my pleasant surprises with the market last week. I happened to have a baby 2 years back and she happened to have her second birthday and incidentally we happened to decide to not celebrate the first birthday so it was a first experience of celebrating a kids birthday for all of us. Not that it was a big deal because all we did in the name of celebrations was that we went to her day-care and put together a small do over there. Yet, however conventionally-challenged parents we might be, I still have some aspirations of my own when it comes to parenting.

During my numerous trips to Lajpat Nagar and amidst buying Roasted Namkeen, Bhujia, Matthi, Chips and the family, I had noticed these shops (read:shacks) in a lane opposite Sita Fabrics (the furnishing guys). This is where you get suit pieces, duppattas, export quality clothes and Pakoras. There are about 3 shops (shacks) that look extremely colorful and sell party props.

In my list, I had to buy gifts for other kids of all age groups. Challenged, as I have mentioned above, as I am, I had forgotten about other important things like ‘birthday cap’ (or a crown these days for girls) and disposable plates and ware and ended up buying from another place later.

So coming back to gifts, since I have become a little more comfortable with hyper-marts, I had checked out Big-Bazaar in EDM to Vishal Mega Mart but nothing found anything worth the buck. I decided to check out these places in Lajpat Nagar since I anyways had to buy snacks from these shacks.

I felt like a kid in a toy store!

You get great return gifts, anywhere from 2 bucks onwards. There is no upper limit since you may decide to give away Barbie Doll Houses and spend Rs. 2000 per present. (what crap am I talking!)

So you get great gifts here, really great props like disposable ware, wrapping paper, stationery, decoration pieces, bags and the works. The prices would about half, if not a third. Bargaining to a certain extent (about 15-20%) also works in most of the cases so don’t give up.

All of the above is also available at Sadar Bazaar, and probably cheaper, but unless you’re throwing a really big party with a lot of elements, or you go there every other day anyway - I would advise to stick to Lajpat Nagar. There is also a shop or two in Karol Bagh and Jhandewalan but LN still scored better - both in terms of range and prices.

Look forward to a party and BYOG (Bring Your Own Guests) - the rest you can shop for at Lajpat Nagar… and love it!