Ritchie Street

I just had my first feel of Ritchie Street, Chennai's crowded electronics capital. Apparently it is the second biggest market for electronics goods in India. "Currently, Chennai is the second largest electronics market after Delhi. The 1,300 shops in Ritchie street and Narasingapuram, located in the heart of the city, does a business of around Rs 65 crores per day."

It is 10 years since I started working in Mount Road, but I have never had the urge to explore RS's narrow, congested streets. With V out of action and expecting me to check out assembled and branded computers at a shop in the street, I ventured gingerly to my destination. (The fact is that V is bored at home and wants to remain connected to the rest of the world over the Net.)

Got lost in the medley of buildings but finally found my way to a tiny shop with a friendly lanky chap trying to speak simultanteously on two phones. He convinced me that he was giving me the best of everything - 17" LG LCD monitor, Sony DVD writer, Speakers by Creativ, Web cam from Zebtronics, etc. etc. I am not very computer-hardware savvy, so I just nodded and trusted his quotation. I got him to jot down the individual pricing which came to a little less than Rs. 35000. As I found my way out, there were half a dozen men waiting in line.