Shopping In Jaipur: The Most Colourful Aspect

Shopping in Jaipur

Honestly speaking, whatever be the place, I have never been a shopaholic. Shopping for me is actually wastage of time. Yes, I am interested in artifacts and handicrafts at times. But spending a complete day just to explore the market areas !! Too boring for me. But I was forced to give a second thought when Pooja, my friend, started singing praises about the wonderful handicrafts of Jaipur. While listening to Pooja, the arts and crafts of Jaipur became as irresistible as its monuments. Dara told us that the city has abundant markets, which sell excellent pieces of arts and crafts famous for their delicate traditional touches.

Pooja has a philosophy that shopping is all about judging the artistic worth of an item. On the request of Pooja and Monika, we first headed for the Rajasthan government emporium- 'Rajasthali'. The place is actually worth a visit. The best part there was the hand-woven saris and tie and dye clothing (also known as Bandhini). The emporium showcases jewellery, gems, semi precious stones, Kundan and Minakari work that are quite popular in the city. Somebody told us that the major jewellery stores are located in the Jauhari Bazaar, Jadiyon-ka-Rasta, Gopalji-ka-Rasta and Haldiyon-ka-Rasta. But instead of buying gold and silver jewellery, we preferred buying Lakh Jewellery, and therefore we moved for Maniharon Ka Rasta. I too bought a few items for my younger sister and my grandma.

We stopped near Hawa Mahal for lunch, where all of us relished the best of Rajasthani cuisine. The entire region of Hawa Mahal comprises of several shops that sell antiques like blue potteries, carpets, brass ware, leather footwear (especially embroidered Jutis), carpets, Kota doria saris, Sanganeri prints and hand block printed textiles. The items were a bit costly there. So we decided to go to the Nehru Bazar and Bapu Bazar to explore some more varieties and reasonable prices in those articles.

The workshops of tie-dye and block printing textiles and wooden crafts are also located at Sanganer and their chief stores are in Jahauri Bazaar, Badi Chaupar, Chaura Rasta and Tripolia Bazar. But due to shortage of time we could not visit these places. Our last shopping destination was the famous M I Road (Mirza Ismail Road). The shops there were loaded with good quality woolen carpets, hand block printed textiles, traditional miniature paintings, cotton rugs and embroidered Jutis. We consider ourselves very lucky that we planned for shopping on Saturday, otherwise most of the shopping places in Jaipur Rajasthan are closed on Sundays. While returning to the hotel, I was realizing that if I would not have joined everyone for shopping, I would have missed the most colourful and vibrant aspect of Jaipur.