It's nearly winter in the northern parts of India. Last Saturday was the first foggy morning of the year. In winters, many street vendors sell peanuts which are usually served hot. The peanuts taste much better when served hot, and eating them takes the from of favourite pastime.
The trade is seasonal: you won't find these vendors in summers. It continues till the advent of Spring and a little after that, when the weather slowly changes its complexion and mercury embarks on its ascension.
I saw this street vendor by the side of a road. Not only is the trade difficult, it is quite a lonely one too. The long hours are not always buzzing with activity and the countless iterations of doing the job daily must inevitably result in ennui. However, smartphones are rapidly becoming a common medium to idle away the otherwise empty and stagnated moments.
By the way, I've started feeling that gestures convey vital information about a person's being. It seems to me that people's postures reveal behavioural traits that remain obscure, buried deep in the unconscious and unreachable recesses of one's being. Gestures are a coded script that hint at something significant about a person.
It was within this swirling waves of voices I saw this lady working on a sackful of round, white garlic bulbs. She wasn't bothered by the usual hustle and bustle of the market — she was impervious to it all. Her silent gaze was stable and fixed. Her experienced fingers moved with skill and precision.
Buildings, especially those built with care and caution, retain the power to move the spirit. They are decanters of a sublime potion potent ...
