She is very busy especially between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. every day when scores of us stand around her very modest selling place demanding vegetables, negotiating prices, and complaining about how long it takes for her to cater to each one of us…

Patiently, she handles all of us, putting in loads and loads of personal attention, “Oh! You are buying more today, amma! Has your daughter come for a visit from her in-law’s place?” “Saar, it s been sometime since you came this side, have you been visiting America?”,

But when it comes to negotiating prices, she is very clear. Discounts are usually reserved for regular customers only. Otherwise, it’s a strict “no”. Her maths skills beat me! Awesome! People just list out 1 kg of onions, half kg of tomatoes, green chillies, and she deftly calculates the prices at super speed. “Oh! That will be ₹250,” she declares, and immediately goes on to another customer, calculating again. Someone hands her a ₹500 note for a ₹135 bill and she hands back the exact change, the soiled notes telling the story of her toil.

The speed of her calculations put to shame many of us who quickly pull out the calculator on our smartphones to add those numbers.

Her PR skills are superb! No selling costs! Yet the intense competition she faces from her neighbour seller solely and solidly rests on brand value of the tender veggies her short-time stall sells. She does have loyal customers who wait even if it’s painstakingly long to buy from her.

The man on the other side of the stall — sometimes her husband or her son — just carries the vegetables from the small truck. Any unruly or arrogant customer gets a taste of her rustic stinging sarcasm and is immediately silenced.

Perhaps around 9.30 a.m. or so, she silently sips tea from the tiniest cup you can see and prepares to leave for the day.

Her skills are all part of on-the-job training. Her guru is a very strict teacher and she never passes out of her ‘Gurukul’, throughout her life — she belongs to the school of poverty.

kvlecoteacher@gmail.com

Published - August 09, 2026 04:52 am IST