ChikPet

My ex-room-mate has got a house on his own and is moving shortly. We went to HomeTown, in outer ring road, last week to buy lamps and glass bulb covers (Is there a name for it ?) Hometown has a massive collection of everything you will ever want to buy for a new house, under one roof. We felt the prices were a little too high and somebody recommended this mysterious place called ChikPet. So, today we went there.

I assumed: ChikPet = Chicks + Pet : and hence a place where chicks (and there is no wiki page for chicks) will come with their pets. Instead it turned out to be a place time-jumped straight out of 1980s. There were numerous shops in the narrow streets. Most of the shops have rented very small spaces that they have a seperate godown section somewhere outside where you have to go, in case you are buying more than a piece.

Prices are damn cheap. Nothing is sold in MRP. Make sure you take someone who can bargain well. If you are buying in large numbers (7 sets of lamps, a dozen cfls, 4-5 fans etc.) , you get good discounts. The same set of things a person bought for 20k somewhere else, we could buy for ~7k. One simple instance is: 15 watts CFL bulb is atleast Rs.20 cheaper per piece.

My Kannada skills, with a not-so-foreign accent and a very limited vocabulary was put to test today and I managed well. The kannada shop owner even complained about some of his Tamil customers without realizing that I am one. Later he had an embarrassed smile when we spoke with each other.

However, If you want to go, a few words of caution: a) Preferably, go as a gang of guys. b) Not at all the place for a rich looking software engineer carrying a blackberry (stick to HomeTown) c) Not a place where you can take your wife and kids to select and buy d) There could be damaged, shattered pieces in the glasses. Check them well before packing. e) many shops are closed on Sundays f) I heard this place is famous for sarees (one more reason why u should never take (old ?) women)

P.S: I'm tempted to use a lot of text-within-paranthesis for meta-things. Is there a name for this addiction ?