old delhi spice market.
In the Indian metropolis of Delhi, where fast-paced, cell-phone toting characters out of Monsoon Wedding live side by side with barefoot rickshaw wallahs cycling past roaming cows in the road, we visited the largest spice market in all of Asia, the bustling Khari Baoli bazaar. At once, all our senses were over-stimulated to an amplified level. Open air shops on both sides of the road displayed sackcloth bags filled with pungent spices, bushels of fragrant flowers, nuts and sticky dried fruits, mountains of bright orange turmeric, mouth-watering sweets, gallons of gooey ghee and enough tea to steep the Indian ocean. We could barely breath. The intense combination of indiscernible aromas oscillated our insides between gagging nausea and voracious hunger.
Carried along by the throngs of merchants corralled on the sidewalks, we watched as businessmen from all over India tested quality with a sniff or a taste and marked a deal with a head waggle. Shopkeepers weighed out goods the old-fashioned way, with iron weights on a balance scale. In the street, thin men carried burlap sacks bigger and heavier than their own bodies, loading them onto hand drawn wooden carts. Whether you need 5 grams or 500 kilos, goods are sold in bulk at rock-bottom wholesale prices. We walked away with precious clear gift boxes filled with delicate red saffron strands from Kashmir. This is the ideal place to look at some of the spices used to make masala chai, and their medicinal properties.
You are making me miss India so very much
Great post
29 Jan 2009 at 5:24 pm
Aren’t spice markets just the best? Your photos are simply amazing!!!! I love the bright orange flowers peeping out the sides of the full sacks.
29 Jan 2009 at 9:32 pm
oh i can’t tell you how absolutely GLORIOUS these pics are to me!!!!! you have filled my heart with wonder, and with good smells
30 Jan 2009 at 9:09 am
I love you guys journeys and pictures. It is like being there.
Renee
30 Jan 2009 at 10:18 pm
beautifully written post patrick! and the pictures are equally amazing!
31 Jan 2009 at 11:35 am
I have to go there in my next time in Delhi!! Great pictures!
Tks so much for sharing precious informations with us.
11 Feb 2009 at 6:34 am
Your photos are beautiful. I love looking at all the different burlap sacks, and can’t help but want them for my crafting.
05 Sep 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hi,
Good pics. Am requiring some information about the Spice market in Delhi…..need to source some spices ……could u please mail me the exact place or road in Delhi where spices are traded……….asap
Niky
15 Nov 2009 at 5:12 am