The Forgotten III

Going to the market is a big affair in our household. We don't dress up for it but we do arrive carrying our shopping bags which will then be filled with vegetables or fish or in some cases meat. Now, like every household, we have some rules when we go to the market.

The first rule of marketing is that we buy from one or maximum two vendors. These two vendors we choose have to meet certain criteria. Their product must be good and fresh and if by any chance we are cheated, we return the product in whatever state it is and permanently boycott said vendor. This has been going on since my grandma's times.

Vendors treat us with respect. At the local market, we buy veggies from two people, onions and potatoes from an old gentleman and fish from a bearded dude whose beard is so long it's as if his beard is growing another beard 9as the joke goes).I have often been asked to sit down and share a cup of tea with our vendors, or if they've done a puja then they make sure to save some prasad for me.

Like any relationship, this one too has been nurtured. When we first started buying we told them of our rule and one fishmonger gave us bad fish. We returned the same to him the next day in a semi cooked condition, stinking to high heaven and have boycotted him since.

In the era of Big Basket and other such online portals, finding a good vendor is a difficult task, because everyone has a smartphone now, but they don't get to experience the pleasure of going to a market, and buying fresh veggies or meats, which we can see in front of us and pick and choose from. Sometimes the vendor tells us he has nothing to offer us and we should try this other one who will not cheat us. In an age where everything is ones and zeroes, a little analog helps

How? It reminds you where your roots are. It reminds you of taking the car down to the market, parking it, getting down with an empty bag to fill and then filling it with stuff from one end of the market to another. Marketing is so much fun. You get to do so much. You meet new people, who then become familiar faces, then almost family.

Back in the era of landline phones and dial up internet, I remember this one time my dad took me with him to the market. It was an amazing experience for me. The vendors all patted my head, blessed me or gave me toffees. Some gave discounts on their product on seeing me. My father was offered tea. There were so many smells. The smell of fish, of blood, of fresh veggies like cabbage. My little eyes, with their plus powered lenses saw so much, a man's beard scared me a little and it was one of the most memorable days of my life, which I can still recall almost twenty years later.

Then I started going to the market on my own. I always got a discount from the vendors we were loyal to. Sometimes I'd chat with them as they weighed my goods. One of the vegetable sellers recently lost his mother. As is the custom in Hindu households, I bought some fruit and sweets and gave it to him with my sincere condolences. There were tears in his eyes and he said to me "God bless you, beta".

You see it's about the people around us whom we don't notice and yet who are very important to our lives. Were it not for a man getting up at 4 AM  and going to get produce, we wouldn't have food in our houses. Think about them a little. Remember, they have families too. Remember they are humans too. Don't just say that you want a kilo of this, pay and walk away. Interact.

There is much to be learnt from these people. Open your mind and let them in.

The Bilge Master