Most of us have grown up seeing this as a daily routine – one wherein our mothers and maybe theirs before them too spent a couple of minutes every other day haggling with the vendor standing at the corner of the street. Haggling for prices and discounts is in our blood and is part of our breed. Even if we are buying vegetables of various kinds or exotic fruits to flatter our own palette, a majority of us tend to haggle and bargain like as if that buck or two really matters.
Until a decades or two ago, there were very few stores or organized malls wherein we could shop for essential ingredients like vegetables in an air-conditioned environ. Today though, the options are endless but our street vendors remain one of the hot favorites.
Why you wonder? The reason is pretty clear. You simply have to look out of your window and shout to have him come over with a list of what he can sell you for the day. What’s more, with the change in today’s dynamics, you can even just give a tinker and voila, he’ll be right up!
While some of you may argue that your local supermarket would do the same, it just doesn’t compare to the speed with which your local street vendor would bring you your fruits and vegetables. The supermarket guy would take time to collect your order, parcel the things and deliver them while on the other hand your local street vendor would just bring it right up in a matter of moments.
Sometimes, there is so much to appreciate in the simplicity of the simple things. The street vegetable and fruit seller has been around since generations. He is a familiar sight in almost every residential gulli of every major city in this country. His baskets and familiar clothing are hard to miss and let’s face it, on the one day they don’t come, every home maker and domestic help goes wild looking for him or wondering what happened.
We all have a bond of sorts with our local vendors. They get to know us and we, them. Eventually there is mutual understanding and respect.
Wouldn’t it make sense to acknowledge this, now. Times are changing, gone are the days when a vendor was just a vendor. The world turns and spins only to bring in social change, one at a time.