Handlooms form the warp and weft of a region. Just as Patola or Ikat is distinctive to Andhra Pradesh, Kanchipuram saris are associated to Tamil Nadu, crępe de Chine, georgette, chiffon and soft silk are associated to Karnataka, and the typical cream, gold-bordered saris in cotton and silk to Kerala. Andhra Pradesh

In Andhra Pradesh, the logical place for shopping is Hyderabad’s Charminar Bazaar that sprawls all around this signature landmark. This exciting bazaar recalls medieval marts with its pearls and bidriware, its bangles and brocades.

Ever since the Nizam’s patronage of the pearl industry, Hyderabad has remained the premier centre for buying, sorting, and selling of pearls, and has spawned the country’s pearl industry. Nevertheless, pearls are not local to Hyderabad. These are received from Japan for polishing and grading and then patterned into strings, jewellery, or simply sold by weight.

Around Charminar, another item associated with the former royals-bidriware-has gained a new lease of life. Bidriware is the fine art of inlaying silver into a jet alloy formed by lead, zinc and tin. Initially restarted as a souvenir art for making key rings, cufflinks and the like, it is now increasingly used in making presentation boxes.

Lepakshi, the state’s handicrafts emporium on Gun Foundry Road, is the single greatest show window for cottage crafts. However, there are plenty of shops all over the capital that sell a range of fine crafts.

Andhra Pradesh is especially rich in handlooms and hand-woven fabrics that have been a rage in the national and international markets for long. Naturally, Ikat is the fabric par excellence, and that the weaver can control just where the coloured yarns will meet to form an interesting pattern seems beyond imagination. Yet, hundreds of weavers do just that everyday. The state’s sari looms consist of the Pochampallis woven in both silk and cotton, its dark-coloured Narayanpets, and the Gandals with their ornate, gold borders woven in a mixed fabric of silk and cotton. The traditional art of Kalamkari-fabric painted in different colours with a stylised pen-is kept alive in the seaside town of Machalipatnam. There are interesting fabric shops on Nampalli Road. A variety of handlooms is also available at Handloom House on Mukharam Jahi Road.

If you have time, you can look around for the flashing mirror-worked embroideries of the Lambada gypsies, or for carpets from Warangal, or even for the brightly painted, light wooden Nirmal toys.

Tamil Nadu For many, the South is exotic Chennai (formerly Madras), the capital of Tamil Nadu, and undoubtedly one of the finest shopping bargains of the world. The South Indian cottons and silks from Chennai and nearby Kanchipuram are some of the finest in India. Not for nothing has the phrase ‘Madras checks’ become a synonym for the best in Indian cotton fabric, though it is an irony that the fabric the world cherishes should come not from this city but from Coimbatore in the Nilgiri Hills. The right place to pick up a wide range of this fabric in Chennai is the Co-optex showroom on Netaji Subhash Bose Road, quite literally the headquarters of South Indian handloom products.

Silks in an overwhelming range can be found at Pongal Park. On Anna Salai, there are several state emporia, of which Kaveri (Karnataka Emporium), Kairali (Kerala Emporium), and Poompuhar (Tamil Nadu Emporium) are the best. The Victoria Technical Institute, also located here, has a wide range of embroidered and crocheted linens made by nuns as charity work. These include children’s garments with smocking embroidery. The store also stocks delicate cane work.

Poompuhar has cane mats, wood elephants, woodcarvings (the perennial favourite is Ganesh) and bronze figurines for which the state is famous. Most of these figurines are copies of Chola originals, which represent a high point in the cultural traditions of the state’s history. Bronzes can prove expensive, but since each is an individual work of art, its price is bound to escalate, which makes them a good buy.

With a major boost in leather exports, Chennai has become a flourishing centre for leather garments and footwear. Since Chennai supplies most of its produce to Western countries, the shops stock the latest designs of the West. Jackets, suede coats, bags, shoes and many other leather items are available here. Karnataka

Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka, is a cosmopolitan city in the true sense, and many believe it to be the country’s most modern and climatically comfortable city. Here the shopping malls have large stores, the meeting point for designers and their haute couture. Of course, silks are Bangalore’s prime attraction: they are woven into crępe de Chine, georgette, chiffon, soft silk and spun silk, and priced not by the metre but by weight. People from all over India come here for shopping saris in gossamer soft fabrics. A fabulous range is available at the shops on M. G. Road, and at Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation on J. C. Road.

Karnataka’s forests provide the country with sandalwood, and its forests have been home to herds of elephants. This has given the state its sandalwood and ivory carvings. But with the ban on the sale of ivory, the use of plastic has replaced ivory as an inlay material in wall plaques and tables. As for sandalwood and rosewood, it is patterned into statuettes, carved boxes, beads, and furniture.

Bangalore, with its exciting pubs and discotheques, looks back at tradition in its lanes devoted to gold and silversmiths. The city has a rich tradition of gold-turned jewellery besides, of course, agarbatti (or incense sticks). For those who have time, Bangalore also has a plethora of antique shops where almost anything in wood, metal or glass can be searched out for-if not exactly for a song, then inexpensively enough. Kerala

Kerala has been known for centuries as the land of spices. The state is verdant, endowed by nature with a coastline, low hills, coconut plantations lining its backwaters, and an abundance of bananas. Spices like cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace are all available fresh in bazaars. Good quality cashew nuts are also popular buys here.

Thiruvananthapuram, the capital, is a treasure house of craft items that include everything from carved rosewood to decorative masks in papier-mâché. Nevertheless, Kerala’s prime produce is coir with its centre in Alappuzha (also Alleppey). Bell metal vessels are another attraction of the state. The shops dealing in these products are mainly located on M. G. Road.

Indeed, Kerala’s memories, like its spices, are evoked in a whiff of garam masala, that unique, potent mix of spices that is the state’s culinary gift to the nation.