kid brothers are handy

We have a new sabji wallah coming to our complex. He sets up shop thrice a week for 3 hours in the mornings. There is quite good patronage for his wares. They are fresh and I am told reasonably priced.

It is also a good time to exchange colony gossip while we wait for our turn. Today I greeted a friend who had just come back from her mother's place after her second delivery. I enquired after her, promising to come and see the baby the next day. Her first child was frisking about and I asked her if she is comfortable having a new sibling. The mother told me she is okay with it most of the times. But she takes a particular liking for the young fellow, whenver the mother calls out to her to do her school work. She immediately tells mom, 'brother is very cute no, can I play with him for sometime?"

Are all kids this smart? Obviously she perceives the mother to be spending lots of time with the infant and she also has found a sure fire 'attention diverting technique'.

She should have tried the trick once too often and the mother has become wiser.

But my amazement at the wits of a 4 year old kid remains.

fruitshop on m g road

Pazhamudir nilayam is our new hangout place. It is convenient, just round the colony bend; stocks up fresh fruits and vegetables attractively(that is the operative word); literally pulls you to the shop. there is a fresh fruit stall also attached to the shop and we have a welcome drink of carrot juice, musambi juice or mango juice just after our morning workout.
What is so special, you may ask. One can just pop out of the house and have a cool drink, that is a major attraction.I have seen a roadside shop just opposite which has been selling fruit juices from time immemorial. But nothing has changed in that shop nor have we ever felt like going there for a fruit juice.This shop has made a good decor and an inviting sales counter. Everyday they change the 'menu' card hung on the counter. Today it was 'musambi juice for strengthening your bones'. My order was immediate and definite!Yesterday it was 'carrot juice for gleaming eyes". Yes no prices for guessing that i pitched for carrot juice and nothing else would do.
They have cool drinks in unbelievable colours; a dark ocean blue entices you and so does mint flavour, an enchanting translucent green.
The shop is forever reinventing itself. It is my daily case study for trying to woo the customer and anticipate his needs.
Like today; the shop is decorated for ganapathi chathurthi.And it was just shop opening time early morning and we saw two sales girls doubling up and drawing multi coloured rangoli! Did the job description entail that they are deft at rangoli in addition to being customer friendly sales staff?They had loads of fruits piled up outside the shop today and each of them priced attractively. Did they expect customers to buy as many fruits as the modaks that they would be making that day?Or is ganpathi as fond of fruits as he is of kozhukatais, that we buy them by the basketful as naivedyam?
I noticed today, that they had to discard vegetables which had gone bad; and i counted 12 crates in just 10 minutes. How will they be used; for fodder ; but then they were tossed into the garbage collection van?Segregation and proper utilisation of waste really struck me then.And C K Prahlad's speech a few years back, that India can make millions out of garbage; it is not a problem but an opportunity.
But then i am digressing...

neighbourhood festival

I noticed a new pavement shop on our walkers path two days back. It sold maps, globes of all sizes. I was wondering what is the sudden interest for multicoloured globes and maps in our area. Soon i found out that the penultimate day of the velankanni festival is just round the corner. Yes, i did see more shops as we walked along;as though they have all of a sudden sprung up from the ground.More carts were rolling in; multi coloured bangles in plastic and glass;plastic toys some of which pop out suddenly when the kid is trying blowing it in your face.One shop was actually selling honeycombs!Yes, and he was saying a piece of it will cure every ailment from body pain to diabetes!Eateries were doing brisk business and so were 'pakeet' water. I am told that the devotees actually camp on the beach sands during the night, and trek back in the morning.Elliots beach is a strict no-no that morning, amma tells me.The entire place will be having litter all over and will take the better part of a day of cleaning and removing rubbish.
Narikorava families were spread all over with their paasi mani and pavazha mani.Some of them were hanging the chains in very decorative patterns. I was reminded of fruit shops which decorate their front area with garlands of musambi and apples.
Today the entire stretch from velankanni church to besant nagar bus terminus is back to its old shops and pavement activities.
One missed the hussle and bustle of yesterday.
But then one spotted runners sporting tshirts and going round and round the locality.Could not read the logo on their t shirts, which would have told us what is their cause. But it requires some courage to run in chennai, in the muggy weather that we witness these days. No wonder some of them were dousing their heads and tshirts with the water given to them to sip during their marathon!