KVRK Bhargav
Haji saheb was busy
weighing the potatoes I had bought, when a lady turned up and asked the price
of beans. Haji Saheb said, " Laxmi, it is Rs 20 a kilo." I was amused
seeing him calling this lady as Laxmi. Curious I asked him, "Grandpa!, how
come you address ladies as Laxmi." “All are divine, my boy”- pat came the
reply.
Haji saheb has been
the face of this market, with a long flowing white kurta, grey beard, a skull
cap, full of enthusiasm, warmth and laconic wit. Enter this market, we find
Ramu- busy making labyrinthine designs letting go dough in hot oil and then
soaking them in sugar syrup to make mouthwatering jalebis. The road is
unusually busy with people, vehicles and bovines jostling for the space available.
The most relaxed of all are the cows which sit in the middle of the road
happily munching in a typical bovine nonchalance. Two pugnacious ladies fight
for a strategic location to place their baskets containing sweet smelling
roses, jasmines and marigolds. The road is strewn with goat droppings.
Ramaulamma, an old lady with a vibrant toothless smile and tongue turned red
with chewing pan, sells freshly cut raw plantain neatly kept on a white
tarpaulin cloth. As soon as she sees me, she bursts into an innocent smile and
remonstrates, "Babu! Today the price is fixed, I can't give you 4 pieces
for Rs 10." A gentle wind wafts across bringing with it the sweet smell of
the season's first mangoes being sold by Gangadhar in his small auto. The calls
of the hawkers beckoning you to buy from their stall fills the space.
