Vellaikkaari: Fire at Spencer's Plaza Resolved: Middle Class Can Now Get Back to Consuming!

This morning I made my way over to Spencer's Plaza. I heard last night that by this morning it would be open after the "major electrical problem" and "fire" of yesterday. Sure enough it was open and let me tell you, business was booming. Apparently people were making up for lost time. I've been to Spencer's before, but I've never seen it this crowded -- and on a Wednesday morning no less. People were practically banging the doors down to spend their money.

I had the best thali meals I've ever tasted at the Saravana Bhavan in Spencer's. Too bad that this chain isn't in Madurai. I visited "Food World" which has undergone an complete overhaul since the last time I was there. They now have an "American kind of store" within it, a "Dollar Store" as they call it, where "everything is guaranteed Rs. 99!" You walk in and it looks just like a dollar store in the States. Problem is, nothing is a dollar!!! They should call it "Two-and-a-half dollars store" cause that's exactly what it is. It would appear that when people have got money to burn around here, a one hundred rupee note has become the new single.