Pottery Town is the place in Bangalore where you should head in case you wish to purchase earthen pots.
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We had been looking to set our kitchen garden for some time and one fine Sunday afternoon, we decided to explore the places in Bangalore where we could buy some mud pots (gamle). Both of us have grown with mud pots at our houses and cleaning, painting them with geru on festivals. We did not want to go ahead with cement and plastic pots available in our nearby nurseries and hence began our search for mud pots! It finally landed us in this little known place called Pottery Town in Bangalore.
As Ganesh Chaturthi was around, the lane started with the line-up of big Ganesha statues in different poses, all colored and decorated for the upcoming Ganapati festival. Each statue wrapped in plastic, guess even God needs protection from rains !!
A little ahead, we could see huge brown mud vessels lined up outside the shops. As our ritual, we first walked through the whole lane to get acquainted. Pottery Town is a small lane with around 10 shops selling mud pots and similar earthen items. Those 10 shops were enough to give us a broad smile when we saw beautifully crafted pots of all shapes and sizes. What fascinated us the most were these huge mug tandoors, big enough to fit a human inside!
Though options are limited but daily use earthen items are available in plenty. You will find a variety of gamle (mud pots for plants), matkas, handis, gullaks (piggy bank) and trays. Even, shopkeepers are quite friendly as they let you enter inside and take a look all around. Prices too seemed reasonable and we did not feel as being fleeced at any point.
As it was a Sunday afternoon, so we could hardly find any potter on the wheel . Some houses had small workstations with potters’ wheels installed. We went inside one of the narrow lane and found a youngster working on Diwali diyas and an old man preparing the clay. We did not want to disturb them and moved ahead with our shopping spree.
We bought simple pots and artistic handis. We kept our pots in the cab under the eyes of hundreds of Ganaptis there who blessed us to reach home with intact mud pots, after a bumpy ride on potholed Banaglore roads :). Thanks to our Uber driver who drove extra carefully all across the way to avoid any impact to our pots.
Location of Pottery Town, Bangalore
Pottery Town is located close to East Bangalore Station. Please click here for the directions.
Indeed, a Sunday well spent.