6-Jan-2006
She
She sits by the entry to Lamington Road. I don’t know her name. Maybe she is part of the locality which I am exploring now. She is local to Lamington Road (or maybe she is not since I am still not sure what I mean by local and locality).
She sells fruit and sometimes vegetables. She is really old – skin wrinkled, hair white, gold, golden brown, grey and some strands of black.
She appeals to you to buy fruit from her.
(This morning I saw a woman in Tara Temple Lane. She was peeping out from the window and haggling with a fish seller on the prices of fish. I wondered how long such negotiation practices will continue in the city given that malls and supermarkets are taking over and defining new practices of business and everyday life! What kind of locality [if any] do supermarkets and malls produce in the contemporary city?)
She appeals to you to buy fruit from her. (Sometimes the fruit is as wrinkled as her skin.)
On most occasions, I ignore her appeals – she is too appealing! But often times, I buy fruit from her. But since the last few days, she has been smiling at me as I walk past her. Her eye recognizes me as a regular (and I still wonder about regularity and marking practices in the city!).
Fortnight ago, I saw her at the Byculla bridge bus stop. I was surprised. But through her interactions in the bus that day, I discovered that she lives at Ghatkopar and comes to Byculla daily. From Byculla, she boards a bus and comes to Grant Road and then sets up her fruit and baskets.
This afternoon, I spoke with her while purchasing some fruit. “I am just about to eat lunch. And you have come this time!” I took the cue and started chatting briefly with her, wanting to explore her notions and practices of locality. She explained her ‘regular’ commuting pattern to me. I understood some; some of her speech was too garbled for me to comprehend anything at all.
I picked some fruit. And as I was readying to leave, she asked me to partake some of the sabudana khichdi which she was about to eat. She handed a little morsel in my palm. I ate, with an immense sense of satisfaction and gratitude.
John Lennon sang, ‘You may think I am a dream’ (and I hope I am not the only one!) …