A window into the vegetable market
This flash essay is part of a collaborative, constrained-writing challenge undertaken by some members of the Bangalore Substack Writers Group. This month, we used the prompt, ‘A Window Into…’. At the bottom of this snippet, you’ll find links to other essays by fellow writers.
I have been visiting this market for more than half my life now. When I came to live where I live, there were limited choices around me for the weekly vegetable shopping. This was the closest market. Thus began the Sunday visits to the market with the spouse.
In due course, various supermarkets set shop in and around our area. For some reason, we never took to these. We use these in case of emergencies but our main shopping is still done from the big market.
There are several reasons for my preference of the open market to the sanitised supermarkets. A few are listed below in no specific order.
Everything is not pre-packed: As much as I love vegetables, I don’t like to buy the ones that come pre-packed in plastic or any other material. In this market, I can buy bell peppers, corn etc. without the mandatory wrappings.
Variety: The variety of vegetables in the market is mind-boggling catering to all communities. You can find all the starchy root veggies catering to the Malayalees. You can find all the different types of vegetables (many of which I can’t identify) used by the Bengalis/Oriyas.
You can buy skinned pieces of raw jackfruit, banana stem, banana flower, elephant apple, hog plum, variety of greens etc. Vegetables which you may not get elsewhere, even if you do, never all of them in a single shop.
The joy of standing in front of a stall, opening up your bag while the vendor weighs and puts the items in, is something I enjoy. When they say “the small pleasures of life”, I didn’t know buying vegetables was a part of it. I read The GOST more than two decades ago, I don’t remember much of it. But everytime I put the vegetables in my bag, I remember Esthappen and how he put the hard vegetables at the bottom and the soft ones on top.
Then there is the “greens” stall, I want to buy them all. As nutritious as greens are, it takes time to clean them. Sometimes I give in to my desires and buy 3-4 varieties and curse my stars when I spend the next few hours sitting and cleaning them.
When I began my visits to this market, my needs were small. Then the boys grew and the family as well. At one point in time there were 7 of us and I was packing dabbas in the morning for 6 of us. There was barely enough space in the fridge for storing all the vegetables we bought. But by next Sunday, it will all be gone.
Now only two of us live in the house. Sometimes in my enthusiasm to buy, I buy so much that it lasts us for 2-3 weeks. In those weeks, I miss my visits to the market. Now I am prudent and count the days of the week and buy accordingly.
I like the chaos at the market. The smells, the dust during summers, the sludge during the rains, the seasonal wares all add to the allure. It makes me feel grounded.
Please find below the list of essays written by fellow Bangalore Substackers on the same topic:
The window that looks back, by Vaibhav Gupta, Thorough and Unkempt
A window into permission for freedom: The FIRE Number by Shruti Soumya, Same Here
A window into the fixity and flux by Amit Charles, AC Notes
A window into a person who shivers on stage by Mihir Chate, Mihir’s Substack
A window into a life on a sabbatical by Ritika Arora, Ritika Arora – Medium
A window into bendy morals by Amit Kumar, EarlyNotes
A window into Kalimpong by Karthik Ballu, Reading This World by Karthik
A window into what makes a great Quiz Question by Rajat Gururaj, I came, I saw, I floundered
Still Looking By Spandana, Spandana’s Substack
A window into a screen-less day by Saniya Zehra Saniya’s Substack
My mom never wanted to teach me how to cook when I was young but I learned at least a little bit of how to shop for vegetables.
After I came to Bangalore and learned how to cook on my own, we've able to reconnect over food and shopping. We also buy most of our vegetables from open markets! It's really nice. :)
So good. Took me back to the days when I would visit the market with my father. Thanks for sharing this immersive experience, Rakhi.