of Veggie-tating shelves and "Fast moving" racks.....

i remember... wistfully... that back home in calcutta... i used to be awed ....and slightly envious too.... of the guy who was selling veggies, fruits and the other things.
He would be perched high up somewhere .... on a stool or a brick i would never know, bcoz his feet just could not be seen. And right down his sides and fronts were slopes and slopes of tomatoes, red capsicums, a jhoori of higgeldy piggeldy bhindi, dull red beetroots promising a gush of red at the slightest scratch, squat yellow-orange pumpkins reclining at various angles,piles of potol( parwal) , supple spring onions ,separated by red carrots and a different, very distinct orange carrot variety in a separate basket....lengths of gourd and jhinge arranged neatly.... and smaller packets of pale mushroom, baby corn scattered among the small hillocks. At the lower fringes, in a purely greopraphic way, were arranged the green leafies.... spinach, and lettuce... in alternate shades of green, the more delicate coriander , bay and methi is smaller baskets...... all sprinkled for freshness... and had a most dewey look about it.
It was a massive feeling to be able to sell all those veggies......and i always wished ma had given me ten rupees more than money clutched in my sweaty palms... so that i could sample a few more of the choiciest colors or shapes.... or have a reason for rummaging through his pile of pale cucumbers ( only bcoz i always wanted to know if the bottom went oll the way till the floor that i was standing on.. or how deep was that pile anyway....)
the phol wallah would be equally prosperous, with a myriad of colours. Suspended from the ceiling were grapes in black and green, bananas in yellow and green, and papays... i longed to know the secret of choosing them depending on if iwas to eat them that day or the day after.
I would notice that though the oranges and apples, of every nationality, obeyed the theorems of geometry, but the gigantic watermelons knew none. The honey dew melons were not to be kept with the junta of oranges and apples, chickoos... but on an elevated rack.The plums and peaches came in pairs.... so did the odd combination of shiny black kala jamuns and the fair transcluscent Jamuns. The mangoes, when they arrived, clearly ruled.. and left little space for anything else. And i was entitled to one cherry with the stalk ,gratis, every time thay came.

i only wince , and shudder when i have to buy vegetables in bangalore today.bhindi packed like sardines in a plastic tray..... and an assortment of sick and healthy tomatoes in a plothyene packet. zip packets of grapes....all in deeeeeeep plastic crates that could very well pass for wholesale milk crates . i shall not even mention the leafy veggies......but oh please..... some save the greenery on the racks!!!!!!!

they call it ReTAIL here......and im not saying that all the shops or chains stock un healthy veggies and fruits...... but why why why.... this massacre of choice and quality.... why put them in packets and bags.... why an aircondition for babycorn which is dying.....and a neon light for the potato...????!!!!

i am definitely against the retail phenomena ( i dont care whose sentiments are hurt...)..... be it a mall or a hyper market or supermarket.....sunsilk and dove, pampers and maggi,mdh masala and cornflakes.... there is not mcuh of a diff.....its mostly the same things everywhere.....with a difference ; bcoz there NEEDS to be a differentiating factor.
The FMCGs( fast moving consumer goods...) are another piece of trouble.......as long as the local shop in my para had the latest flavour of packaged juice, and knew what toothapste i wanted, and also the emergency pencil-eraser, and biscuit.... and my mothers holy buys....milk and bread.....there was never a problem.....
not for us, not for him....not in terms of profits, or distributors, and "total shopping experience" or "customer satisfaction."

but the veggies and the fruits......not to mention the fish and dairy section.....why do a character assanition on them..... why strive so hard NOT to sell veggies in the market and friut from the cart....

i dont think this concept of buying veggies from the retail shop exists anywehre else......ppl go to the mandi, or bajaar, or market,or haat..... but def not to a flashy well lit store ......this is just an observation.....

god save bangalore..... and god save the greens....from RETAIL......

home sick.....

the feeling of sneakered feet sinking into freshly tilled loose wet soil.....

the contentement in those neverending rows of green what not things just planted and sprouting....

the richness.... in zipping along superfast roads cut broadly between stretches and strstches of crops...

the ppl...old and new.... in age and habits.... yet remaining solid good....

damn i miss gujarat..... much more than i have ever missed calcutta.

a new blog....

post another three day tryst at home.... with the batty mom and the bratty bro.
i love them.. i really do.
we had a ball... all by oursleves...
and the war..... all by ourselves...
followed by peace talks.....all by ourselves.