Tribute

Just a little mention of all those people without whom my kitchen would have never come alive. Be it the honest old man who sits with his lemon, herbs (corainder, mint, chives, dill) and always charges honestly. When the rest of the market charges Rs3 per lemon , he gives them for Rs1.5 , when other demand Rs50 a kilogram for tomatoes his price is always at Rs40 or say the green coconut seller who sits at the end of our residential street and starts his day at 6 in the monring screaming " Aye aye aye aye aye aye aye, daab niye ja aye aye aye ) "Come , come , come , come , come come come have some "daab" (green coconut water) come come come all day long and takes the trouble of delivering the coconuts right to our doorstep even on those days when it is not required. On several occasions when he has seen my now old wolf of a father from far away  carrying heavy bags he has leapt to his aid and taken the trouble of running to get the bags keeping his business on hold.

Should I not be grateful to the shop which imports cheese in blocks and then gives it at affordable prices or the grocery man in New Market who knew I wanted the imported paprika but couldn't afford to take 500gm of it and opened the pack in front of my eyes and gave 100gm at a throwaway price. He always gives everything at a discounted rate.

I am glad I have a chicken butcher who gives fresh tender chicken 99% of the times and always lends a ear to those rare moments of complaint and a an ever smiling fruit seller who selects the best of the lot for me. His sons though does not have his sharp eye does make up for it by asking me to return any fruit I am dissatisfied with and though I did not return it once he gave another batch for free.

Most of all I am glad that all the people I deal with understand the value of money. They wouldn't send you those snooty outright insolent looks that those people from supermarkets give you if you put back a product. Some might say its marketing skills but they would ask you to have some tea and make small talk. I might complaint about the wonder of man, animal and vehicle all trying to overrun one another while going to the market or the filth but I am glad I deal with warm blooded warm hearted people full of life in an electric environment instead of those cold lonely isles.