The Fruit Seller

He comes knocking at my door every alternate day. How much fruit can I consume? 

Two floors he climbs at this age (he must be in his seventies) to bring the fresh fruit for me. I am obliged to buy since I see the effort he takes to climb two floors but I ask him not to come back for next four days…till my stock lasts…but sometimes he forgets and comes back again the next day and then I am angry that I am obliged to buy, sometimes I just refuse, asking him to peep into my fridge to see that the fruit he sold me the previous day is still left untouched but then again I buy since I feel bad that he had to climb the stairs……

I live on second floor apartment and my building has no lift, hence every visitor huffs and puffs when they visit me. In this world of elevators I am quite primitive; not having one in my building, but then my building is almost 50 years old.

There are many of my family members (it’s never my friends) who have a good excuse not to visit me saying “I cannot climb two floors, so I couldn’t visit you, so sorry” I understand they don’t love me enough to bother climbing two stories… although they know that if they do, I reward them with my hospitality skills.

But this fruit seller cares not for my hospitality; he wants to sell his fruit at exorbitant price. He brings the freshest fruit and I have never ever been disappointed with his stuff….He has so many years of experience of selecting only the best stock, but he overcharges me each time but I never bargain….what is the use?

My argument is that he gives me home service. It is too much of a hassle for me to go to the market, select from the stall which has mix of good and bad fruits, select what I think is good and fresh, pick up the load and climb two stories to get home,

Buying from him is so much easier……..

But he is also too much of a nag……. He will offer me the fruit which I am prohibited from eating for health reasons…"I don’t want figs that are sweet” I tell him and he will argue he will lower the price for me…. “I don’t want oranges because I don’t like” and he promises that they are sweet……and healthy

I ask him to give me 250gms fruit and he weighs it on a balance scale with stone that he claims it to be of 250grams. I ask him to buy the proper weight and he complains he has no excess money. I give him Rs40 to buy, but one year now, he still uses stone saying he never found time to buy it…….

Well…old man he is….all his life he has only sold fruits, the choicest fruits, by just touching the fruits he knows its freshness, its taste and even its quality, he can even advice me when it will be ready to eat, He brings just enough that he is able to carry on his head and peddles from door to door. Every day, fresh stock.

Since he buys just selected few, it’s always the best.

Where else in the world can you afford such luxury of buying the best stuff at your door step?

Cooking on the road is not allowed in Mumbai

Hawkers in India are discouraged from cooking on the streets in Mumbai and there are regular inspections by police to ward them off. But they are back, after a day of rest, to do their business in an illegal way. And it is for us that they are willing to take the risk of being whisked off again and again. But then we are always looking for an easy way out. Today, for example, during my morning errands to the market and the bank, I thought of making radish-brinjal vegetable as soon as I would reach home. As I crossed the street to enter my lane, I saw this hawker selling Vada Samber, and I was tempted to patronize him. The fragrance of the fried Vada is very tempting. My cooking plans got postponed. I turned a blind eye to the unhygenic envirnoments surrounding this hawker, so strong was the fragrance of the fried Vadas. The pocket that was made for planting flowers, on the side of the road, was used by this hawker as a mini kitchen, where he had this huge frying pan. He had prepared the batter at home and he served the hot, freshly fried Vadas to his clients. While I waited for him to fry the Vadas, I decided to click few pictures. The hawker got panicky and hesitantly asked me the motives behind my clicking the pictures. He requested me not to make trouble for him by exposing his illegal business and even refused to charge me for the Vada Sambar that I had bought from his stall. I refused to take the free meal and asked him to relax, I was in no mood to report him. How much easier it must be for the policeman to turn a blind eye to such illegal food stalls, if the hawkers are in the habit of providing free meals to every person, who they fear, can put them out of business?

What I like about Mumbai

is that if you are not in mood of cooking you can always eat outside, and if you are alone, you can stand at any street corner and eat. There are hawkers almost everywhere. This sandwich man is savior on the days when my maid does not come and especially on those days when I am too lazy to cook. He stands with his portable stall that has all the ingredients for making a tasty sandwich, bread, butter, chutney, tomatoes, cucumber, beet, onion, boiled potato. He makes a sandwich that costs only rupees ten and two sandwiches can suffice because it is quite filling, with so many veggies, we ought to be full. A drink also no problem. At rupees twenty he squeezes out a fresh glass of juice. Voila! A healthy, filling lunch is just under rupees forty. It is not even one US dollar or one Euro! Where in the world will you find such affordable lunch? Sluurrp!