Monday, November 27, 2006

Service at your doorstep

One of the best perks of living in Bangalore is that literally everything is delivered or available at your doorstep. The local grocers are more than happy to take your orders over the phone and get their boys to deliver the grocery right at your doorstep for free! So is the local pharmacist now. Trust Chemists and Druggists is a pharmacy chain in Bangalore. (I am not sure if they have stores in rest of India.) If you call and ask for a refill of your medicines or order over-the-counter medicines, you can have them delivered at your doorstep between 9 am and 9 pm. The only clause is the distance from the store to your home. As long as it is within reasonable distance, they will do it for free. The milk vendors deliver milk everyday for a nominal charge. And the newspapers are ofcourse delivered to your door.

Not to mention, the variety of hawkers/vendors who do their business on the streets. They sell all of these and more at your doorstep - vegetables, fruits, flowers, puffed rice, stainless steel pots and pans, plastic boxes and containers, cleaning supplies, sarees, some electrical appliances, etc.
A local vegetable hawker

Hawkers are a familiar sight on any Indian city/town street and often sell their produce/goods for a cheaper price than the store prices. The produce that they sell are fresh and good. One must not discount the personal interaction that comes with such a setup. Typically, hawkers have some regular customers, and provide their loyal services to these regulars. (The boy in the above pic comes by everyday to check if my mom needs any produce!)

7 comments:

Balakumar said...

Your blog has all the hallmarks of a "soon-to-be-famous-blogger" feel to it. Not seen too many blogs that capture the various facets of everyday life... Keep it coming! Enjoying it! :)

Chitra said...

:) Thanks man. I am actually enjoying writing this blog.

Anonymous said...

Oh. How I would love to get somebody come to the door step to deliver the vegetables.

Don't have to go to some of the "stinking" stores and pass through aisles of "stinking" stuff before you could get to the veggies.

-G

Chitra said...

Hmmm ... "stinking", I think I know what you mean. :)

FH said...

Wonderful to see pics of B'lore and Man=vankai uppinkai.Haven't been to India in a long time,good to see your blog:))

Chitra said...

Thanks Asha! Welcome to my blog.

Anonymous said...

hi chitra
goodday. how r u.my name radhika,i am in bangalore.
i am serching for avakay mango & cutting
just now i seen your post.if you have any idea about market or any place to buy and cut mangoes please.
thank you very much