One Hour Observation

            Lama, 1

Divina

SCA

Vincent Giannotti

21^st September 2014

                                    Observing Glenary’s Bakery for an hour.

For my hour-long observation I decided to observe The Glenary’s Bakery, which is also known by the name, Glenary’s Cake shop is situated in Darjeeling India. Located in “Nehru” road the ground floor of a white two-storied building, Glenary’s has a huge wooden framed glass door entrance. As you walk in through the door the first thing you see is a counter showcasing the various bakery items. On the left is a lounge and an Internet café on the right.

As you cross the counter serving the various bakery items, there is a wonderful seating area. The huge glass windows give the view of the mountains and the valley; the tables and chairs are laid out, a single table consisting of 2 to 3 chairs. There are 11 tables laid out all together. I sat on the left corner so as to get a clear view of my observants I started my observation from 3:30 pm and ended it at 4:30 on 21^st September. The sky was slowly clearing out since it had been raining continuously for the past 3 to 4 days. When I started my observation the people mostly occupied the tables.  Soft Nepali music played softly throughout my time there.  I ordered a cup of coffee and started jotting on my note pad and observing.

I observed that the two tables in front were vacant but the rest were occupied. A mother and a daughter were seated although they were not audible from where I sat it was noticeable that they were speaking in Nepali. The mother ordered some items and was busy checking her cell phone whilst her daughter sat down with a cup of iced coffee trying to get her mothers attention, hovering in front of her, they left after 10 minutes. Next to their table sat a middle aged Indian pair. Both of them were busy eating and checking their cell phones but were making conversation, shaking their heads and mumbling as they swallowed their meal. A single fellow who must’ve been a tourist was seated beside them who was busy drinking a hot beverage whilst going through papers that must’ve been his receipts. There was another tourist and he on the other hand was reading a book. Two tourists seated beside them looked like they were having a serious conversation. One of them had his feet curled in his chair. Another tourist seated in the next table was talking to one of the waiters, a cup of coffee placed in front of him and was later seen gazing through the window with his cellphone in his right hand. The woman glanced towards me, stood up and took a few pictures of the man who accompanied her. The waiters who were dressed in white shirts and black pants walked in and out of the room, taking and bringing in orders. The Indian pair left the room leaving their tables vacant just to be occupied by 2 men, who were huge, went through the menu and gave their orders. Towards my left sat two teens. Since they were close to me, they were audible and I could make out that they were conversing in Hindi. As I was glancing towards the room observing my last table the waiter who came to take his orders glanced at my note pad. I gave him a quick smile and he smiled back. The last table had two ladies, foreigners of course, both of them were eating but one had a cellphone and was looking at it, giving me glances as well. Everyone was dressed up in warm attire since it was a bit chilly outside due to the rain.

  The two teens besides me finished their meals and took pictures. A family walked in gave in their orders occupied the table in front of mine and they quickly left. The foreigners who were reading and going through their receipts were now fiddling through their food and gazing through the windows. Since it seemed like the sun was setting most of the people there stood up to take pictures of the scenery.