There is this great alley with veggie and fruit vendors that my friend Bhanu showed us. If you can make it past the ladies shucking peas and beans and pleading for you to buy them, you are in. The produce is fresh with a ton of variety. And because you are dealing one on one and I happen to be a white lady with 2 daughters of varying skin tones they remember me. I have built somewhat of a working relationship with the vendors. But I think today I put that relationship to the test.
Flip and I visited the mango stall today. Mangoes are almost out of season so we are buying and eating like mad. We eat 3kg in 2 days. Yes, it is a little sick. As we walked up to the stall I heard a sweet little kitten mewing. I had see this kitten the time before and I was glad it was still hanging out. As I got closer though I realized what the kitten was mewing about. The mango vendor had a chicken foot in his hand. A real life, cut off chicken foot. Now people, I can barely walk past the meat section in the grocery store. I close my eyes or look away until all that flesh is out of view. I could not contain my ewwws and yucks. I tried to look the other way but movement in the air caught my attention. The man had thrown a nice arc and there was the chicken foot moving through the air and the kitten sitting on its back legs was eagerly awaiting its prize. They had done this before.
The man laughed at my wrinkle up faced and asked,"ennu beku?" and proceeded to rinse his hands with some water. I still wanted my mangoes but I definitely did not want his chicken foot hand all over my fruit. So I did the only thing I could think of. I pulled out hand sanitizer and asked, "hakuthira?" and before he could respond I squirted an extra large squeeze right into his palm and gestured for him to rub vigorously. He spent most of his time smelling it.
But the good news is he still sold me my 3kgs. Hoping he doesn't cut me and my weirdness off.
Flip and I visited the mango stall today. Mangoes are almost out of season so we are buying and eating like mad. We eat 3kg in 2 days. Yes, it is a little sick. As we walked up to the stall I heard a sweet little kitten mewing. I had see this kitten the time before and I was glad it was still hanging out. As I got closer though I realized what the kitten was mewing about. The mango vendor had a chicken foot in his hand. A real life, cut off chicken foot. Now people, I can barely walk past the meat section in the grocery store. I close my eyes or look away until all that flesh is out of view. I could not contain my ewwws and yucks. I tried to look the other way but movement in the air caught my attention. The man had thrown a nice arc and there was the chicken foot moving through the air and the kitten sitting on its back legs was eagerly awaiting its prize. They had done this before.
The man laughed at my wrinkle up faced and asked,"ennu beku?" and proceeded to rinse his hands with some water. I still wanted my mangoes but I definitely did not want his chicken foot hand all over my fruit. So I did the only thing I could think of. I pulled out hand sanitizer and asked, "hakuthira?" and before he could respond I squirted an extra large squeeze right into his palm and gestured for him to rub vigorously. He spent most of his time smelling it.
But the good news is he still sold me my 3kgs. Hoping he doesn't cut me and my weirdness off.
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