A Little More On – Shoes, Shirts and Our Changing World

A Saturday ritual of wandering through Hazratgunj turns into a meditation on change — from biscuits to Bata and the quiet rebranding of tradition.

A person stands with a bicycle facing a wide river

`Gunjing’, is part of my Saturday afternoon routine. For the non-Lucknowhas, (as citizens of Lucknow refer to themselves), Gunjing is an aimless wandering around in Hazratgunj, the glittering (by UP standards), high-street of this city. It involves window shopping, scarfing on chaat, chai and moomphali  and `eating the sun’, in the winters. I am a devoted follower of this ancient Lucknow tradition. 

My routine starts with a visit to one of the last surviving book shops of the city. Moving on towards, Burma Bakery, to buy my weekly quota of biscuits and cookies and then heading to the Bata store, mostly to window shop and at times to buy footwear for myself or my extended family. I end my outing with a visit to Café Coffee Day, that now occupies the space that Ram Lal and Sons, once sold their sarees from. I spend an hour or so over a coffee, with a strong dose of the Saturday Business Standard. This after a little more aimless meandering, the hallmark of a Gunjing expert, which I believe I am.

Earlier I was partial to the India Coffee House, no longer so. You only visit the place, if you miss the environs of a government office. Somehow that particular desire eludes me. 

Coming to the point now. Peeping into the Bata store yesterday was a bit of a shock. A range of apparel now graces the store! I immediately walked in, to explore what was on offer. If any of you thought that the earlier diversification initiative was a fortuitous failure, guess what? You could be wrong. The merchandise, though much smaller in range and quantity, closely resembles what Decathlon have to offer.

To confound matters further for me, as I was looking through the T-Shirts, a sales assistant whom I did not recognise from earlier visits, positioned himself discreetly behind me, not saying a word. He waited till I was moving on, to remind me – Sir, yeh, discount ke baad, sirf teen sau rupaye ki hain! Clearly the in-shop experience is slated to change too.

The world of Bata is changing once again, and my best wishes will always be with them.