There is one particular occupation that I relate to, and that might infact be my alternate occupation as well - The Fruit Seller. I love fruit in all its different hues and shades, flavours and tastes. Imagine a world where everyone is a kind of fruit, for example, you might be the pear fruit, I might be the mango another might be the melon. All of us would have names like "Mango Singh" or "Melon Mehta" or even "Gauri Grape" or say "Meena Leechi". And whenever anyone needed someone, we would just go to the fruit seller and pick up the appropriate fruit. So if you wanted Mandy, you would hail out to the fruit seller pointing to the mango, "iska kya daam" 'read how much does it cost ? He would then look at you and gauge your anticipation and eagerness to buy the fruit and say, "sir, the small mango is the sour variety, and will cost you Rs 50 a kilo, that larger mango is very sweet, sir, and could go upto Rs 75 a kilo. Now depending on whether you wanted a sweet Mandy or sour one, you would shell out the sum to the fruit seller who would, with a twinkle in his eyes, hand you over a kilo of sweet Mandy to you. Ofcourse, he would appreciate you even further as a smart buyer if you supposedly bought sour Mandy at Rs 50 a kilo and waited for a couple of days for it to turn sweet. That way, my friend, you would paid less for the same Mango.
Fruits nonetheless have turned very expensive, a kilo of Leechi costs nothing less than Rs 100 a kilo. Fruit sellers have a tough time in the summers where the shelf life is very low and stocking fruit is unadvisable. Harbhajan Singh, the wholeseller in Azadpur Mandi was recommended to me by a good friend of mine. This fit and trim old Sardarji was known for his vitriolic temper with which he lashed out at fellow stall owners in the mandi 'read bazaar. Has the price of each fruit at his fingertips and runs a clean shop. His range spans coconuts from Kerala to apples from Kashmir and everything that comes in the realms of these two diverse locations which is virtually the whole of India. His customers include people from different nodal bazaars including the one at Okhla. Rates are phenomenal and the fruit, just yummm. I spoke to Harbhajan Singhji about getting him coconuts from Karnataka and he, the big hearted man that he his, had only one answer "wahe guruji ki meher ho toh, sab kuch hoga". God willing, everything will happen.
