Thomas and Emily accompanied my mum to get kachoris for breakfast this morning. They were more interested in the ride on the e-rickshaw and convinced Dida to get them some jalebis and gulab jamuns as well. After breakfast I headed out to the bank to submit some final KYC paperwork while Ben and Matthew accompanied Dadu to the local cobbler to get their new belts adjusted. While we were out Bron and Emily made some more Christmas jewellery with the beads she had brought over. Emily even made a snowflake to go on top of the portable Christmas tree we had set up in the living room.

Earlier in the week we had visited Uttarapan for some handicrafts and traditional clothing, however it wasn’t as impressive as its equivalent shopping centre in South Kolkata called Dakshinapan. So after lunch we all piled into the car for the hour long drive to Gariahat. Bron made the comment that it felt like a clown car with 5 people crammed into the back seat and it got a bit uncomfortable by the end. Dakshinapan, however, was a great experience with a range of shops from almost every state in India. The shopkeepers also seemed quite engaged and actually wanted to interact with customers and showcase their wares. The boys are quite enamoured by patterened short sleeve shirts and bought a few more today, while Bron got some homewares and sarees. Emily got some traditional bangles and even a handbag that was like a bangle. I found a Google t-shirt – well under the market price of what I would pay in the Google Swag store.

Other than shopping, Dakshinapan also had these little electric cars and bikes that little kids could ride around in. After a lot of pestering, I finally relented and both Emily and Thomas had a go on a little motorbike. The attendant had to run alongside them to make sure they didn’t run into any customers or passers by. At the same time Ben and Matthew got a traditional Masala Chai at a little tea cafe, which sold all different types and flavours of tea. We spent almost 3 hours at Dakshinapan and the drive back was a lot quicker – especially with all the bypasses and fly overs from South Kolkata all the way to Salt Lake City.