Where to Shop in Chennai??? Ideas?

That headline is a really stupid question, if you’d seen us shop-till-we-drop during travels elsewhere! But we travel to India differently than we travel elsewhere. Because family is in Chennai. When I get back to the U.S., excited people ask …

“Where did you go?”

“What did you see?”

“Do you have photos?”

Um, I went to living rooms? I saw living rooms? I have photos of living rooms??

Truly, that is much of what we do — visit and be visited.

I do have these photos from Chennai:

• Shopping for saris and textiles at Nalli in Ponagal Park
• Standing around drinking Pepsi in the heat. Hmm, I now see why we suddenly needed Pepsi.
• Gardens my father-in-law helped build around T Nagar
• A grocery store conveyer belt at Nilgiri (forgive me, I was astounded to see a grocery store conveyer belt in India back in 2002 so it was photo-worthy, yes)
• PSBB grounds in Chennai where my husband went to school
• Banana leaf from the backyard
• Shiny new cars in a shiny new dealership when my sister-in-law bought a car
• My sister-in-law learning to drive a manual transmission — while we were in the car! :)
• The beach not long after the tsunami hit
• My husband’s fast food nemesis — KFC — yes there’s an inside joke there
• And people who asked to get their picture taken with me!

Plus video of about 10 blind people holding onto each other and crossing through the crazy traffic at a busy intersection! Unbelievable!

That’s about it. That’s where we go in Chennai. When people ask where to shop in Chennai, I can offer Nalli, Sundari Silks, and Citi Center mall with Lifestyle.

But now we have an apartment in Chennai. An empty apartment. We don’t even have a lamp! Nothing to sit on!

So where do we shop in Chennai for home goods? And find Christmas goodies for family back home in the U.S.? Ideas please!!

Here’s what I have so far:

• Kilol
• Anokhi
• Good Earth
• Masala Chai
• Amethyst
• Fab India
• Muthu Handicrafts where we got our antique main door
• @home, suggested by a reader on a previous post

This is way too short a list — surely there are more places to visit and give some visibility to them here. Please share in comments any Chennai shops or shopping districts you recommend!

I’m not afraid to tread through difficult places. Someday I’ll post video of the claustrophobic aisles of Chinatown and Indian shopping areas in Bangkok. It’s an adventure to go to off-the-beaten-tourist-path places. Unfortunately other cities have better documentation for visitors than Chennai.

So, help! Please recommend where to shop for things, for anything, because we need nearly everything. Thank you!