Kalia is the name he responds to; he can recognise my voice even when he is attending to half a dozen customers--all eager to get his attention.
This morning this young healthy vegetable seller had come empty handed to the daily market except a slim bag having a few packets. Normally he rides his overloaded moped and drives into the busy market, almost up to where he sits, his sleek moped meandering through the crowd and then he gets busy, offloading half a dozen filled sacks.
Customers would eagerly wait for the mystery-ware to appear when the physically stout young Kalia would pour down brinjals, cauliflowers, cabbage, spinach, bhindi, cucumber etc and, soon after, would be almost mobbed by the eager customers. He has few competitors in the market with better manners; few can smile more warmly. He does not whimper if you handed him a thousand rupee note for a seventy rupee worth purchase. He readily gives you back the balance amount.
I was happy. "Would you make five lakhs of rupees?" I asked. Fifty thousand per month would be the return, he confided in me. I blessed him. Let him have a good income; he has worked for it. That is the way our youths will grow-- by their hard work --- not taking recourse to Bundh as India's workers seem to have opted for today.
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2nd September, 2016
This morning this young healthy vegetable seller had come empty handed to the daily market except a slim bag having a few packets. Normally he rides his overloaded moped and drives into the busy market, almost up to where he sits, his sleek moped meandering through the crowd and then he gets busy, offloading half a dozen filled sacks.
Customers would eagerly wait for the mystery-ware to appear when the physically stout young Kalia would pour down brinjals, cauliflowers, cabbage, spinach, bhindi, cucumber etc and, soon after, would be almost mobbed by the eager customers. He has few competitors in the market with better manners; few can smile more warmly. He does not whimper if you handed him a thousand rupee note for a seventy rupee worth purchase. He readily gives you back the balance amount.
This morning he almost whispered into my ears that he has a few fresh packets of mushroom buds. I got a thousand grams of them immediately. But I was more inquisitive about his foray into the mushroom world. He said he has grown mushroom over a large area and the crop has been promising. He had just sold a few sacks of mushroom to the traders and would remain busy on mushroom for some days. He would therefore be off other vegetables, temporarily.
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2nd September, 2016
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