Got late in office, but it was not a problem. Because I needed to buy a kilo of potatoes only which was
crucial for the dish I planned to cook that night.
It was late evening when I finally left office. Across the road was the
Esplanade metro railway station in Kolkata. As I descended the final steps leading
to the station platform one train roared out. To my chagrin it was an air-conditioned
rake. Commuting on Kolkata metro you needed a lot of luck to deserve an AC
rake, because it still abounded in non-ac rakes, and if you wanted the pleasure
of paying a minimum of just five bucks for a metro ride, arguably the cheapest rate
across the globe, you had to pay a price in terms of lack of comfort and a
consistently erratic time schedule. Also, once aboard the non-ac trains in the
rush and crush you had to witness the sliding doors making at least 3 attempts
to shut under normal circumstances at almost every stop and you had the
unenviable option of cooling yourself with your own free-flowing sweat. Nobody
really complained about this in this proverbial Indian city of joy, because
they preferred the joy of accessing every possible facility at its cheapest,
and protested vehemently at the slightest indication of a metro-fare increase.
The next train was due in four minutes, but ten minutes elapsed and no
train came. Three air-conditioned trains came in the meantime in the opposite
direction increasing my irritation. However, getting delayed further didn’t
really matter. Because
I needed to buy a kilo of potatoes only which was crucial for the dish I
planned to cook that night.
Finally one train came in my way and as feared, once again a non-ac one.
And it was overloaded already with hordes of eager passengers waiting to barge
in. I knew that the accumulated crowds in the next three stations would make it
unbearable. So I decided to wait, and luckily got a platform seat.
The train time-schedule or the related still didn’t improve. After
another long interval of time one more non-ac train paddled in. I didn’t budge
from my seat, wisely. In the meantime, two more trains came in the opposite
direction, again both air-conditioned. I began to seethe now. Even though I
needed to buy a kilo of potatoes only which was crucial for the dish I planned
to cook that night.
The next train for me was non-ac too, but it came a little early and it
was less crowded. So I took it. I managed a standing space for the 22 minute
ride to my destination. If you must know, it cost me just 10 bucks duly
deducted from the smart-card.
As I alighted from my home station I took in a view of the vegetable
vendors lined on one side of the station with their green assortments displayed
on wooden raisers. I needed to buy a kilo of potatoes only which was crucial
for the dish I planned to cook that night.
So I still had the distinct advantage of completing it in quick time. I
selected a vendor who was entertaining a lone customer at that moment. I
quickened my pace and occupied my position next to the lone customer before
anybody else could come up. However, I had no idea about what was in store for
me.
The vendor and the customer were somehow guided by some unwritten law of
slow motion. The customer showed extreme delight in selecting very small portions
of a variety of vegetables—250 grams of this, 300 grams of that, 200 grams of another,
and so on. The vendor seemed to partake in this delightful game by weighing
those with exemplary care and with classical perfection, putting the cuttings
neatly into polythene bags of various sizes. The slow motion show was aptly
followed by the mandatory drama of accounting and budgeting as I still stood
there. It was an elaborate process, even though the final budget turned to be
much lesser than fifty bucks.
I sighed with relief that finally the show was over. But then, the
climax happened. The customer produced a five-hundred rupee note out of this
pocket. Under normal circumstances any vendor would have showed bitterness and
irritation at this audacious gesture. But no, not this time. The vendor
tenderly accepted the note which in turn forced him to lay bare his ponderous
box of the day’s collections. Rummaging through his treasure for quite some
time he finally managed to settle the change. It was a befitting climax,
well-deserved too. However, I wasn’t too sure for whom, me or the duo.
It was thanks to my years of immense experience that I firmly stood
through, and bought my potatoes from him only.
Because...what the heck! A late supper wasn’t going to starve me to
death in any case.
