Mandai :)

 

Welcome to the Mandai. This is a Marathi word for a market place.
Sunday mornings should be spent here,

Because you get to know the exact number of the kind of people that live in your city
You see the Rich, coming in expensive cars but buying the same Onions nonetheless
And you see the Not-so-Rich, who usually merge with the background except when they are upset about the inflation!
You see the middlemen, chewing tobacco as they stand in a heap of rotten tomatoes
And you see the sellers, lighting nauseating incense sticks before opening their cash boxes.
You see kids being dragged by persecuted parents, and babies bawling over all the adult commotion.
The chai walahs, roaming around with aluminum kettles containing almost refluxed tea!
The seller’s wives rivaling each other, dressed in greens to match what they have in their baskets.
And the buyer’s wives getting mad at their husbands for not haggling with the prettier “seller’s wives”.

You see Colors

Orange Moons of Pumpkin Crescents
Fresh ripe tomatoes with droplets of water, making rainbows with sunlight!
The Old Green of Fenugreek
The Middle-aged Green of Spinach
And The Adolescent Mint!
Pink, with a tinge of orange in Carrots.
Greenhouse Bell Peppers all Yellow and Red
Morning White Radish
Violet Cabbages
Pink-White crunchy apples
Black grapes, with residual leaves making a picturesque fruit basket
A dozen rising Suns of refreshing Lemons

You see Personalities
Smug Cabbages
Orphaned heaps of Potatoes and Onions
Serene, Yogi Oranges
Pimpled Custard Apple and Dimpled Peach
Engaging Water Melon (I so wish they made it seedless!)
Petite French Beans
Inspiring Lettuce, Celery and Watercress :)
The Middle-Class Cauliflower
Wise Ginger and Evasive Lemon grass
High Maintenance Strawberries and Pompous Mangoes.
And as if anthropomorphizing the veggies isn’t enough, it gets you worried about their Fate as well!!

What will happen of the spinach bought from the same basket by different people?
The Maharashtrian kaku will probably boil it into a “nutritious” (read bland) gravy
The Gujju Ben will roll it up in Theplas and serve it with oily pickles
The Punjaban will deep-fry it with Paneer
And the New Age Woman (who refuses to be labeled by Culture, State, Nation and even her own Husband) will toss it up along with about five other martyrs into a low-calorie-high-in-folic-acid-and-calcium Salad :)