By Pranathi Rathore
Mavshi looked at her neighboring vendors and then questioned why everyone had customers but not her. People flickered at her fruits and then moved to the next stall. She removed the shade above her fruits, hoping it would make a difference. Unfortunately, that did not work. She started shouting the price of her fruits, trying to advertise “Hundred for one-kilo grapes, fifty for one-kilo bananas.” However, that did not help. She started asking every person”, “Do you want Cucumber, they are fresh?”:” Do you want Pineapple? They are healing fruits.” and “Do you want Tomatoes? ” People looked at her, then shifted their gaze to her fruits, nodded, and walked past her stall. After all these failed attempts, she sat back with disappointment and started gazing at everyone else in the mandi. Soon, it was dusk, so everyone started packing and left for home. Mavshi did not sleep the night and kept wondering why no one brought from her; was it a fault in her face, was it a fault in her fruits, was it a fault in the arrangement and the position of the stall; what did others have that she didn’t.
In the morning, she reached the mandi early and chose a new spot for setting her stall. Soon, the mandi started. Customers started coming, but not to her. She was in the same state as yesterday. Many days like this passed. Her fruits started rotting, and everyone else’s stock was almost over. The farmers got new stock, and everyone brought their stock, and so did Mavshi. After some time, a young boy approached Mavsi and handed her an injection. Mavshi gave him a confused look, and the boy spoke,“ Inject this in your fruits to make it darker.”
“I will not inject this and feed my customers with chemicals.”
The boy chuckled heartily, “Only if you have any customers. Trust me, inject this, or you will die of hunger.”
Mavshi gave the injection back to the boy, and he laughed and moved past her stall. He gave it to everyone in the mandi, and everyone injected that in their fruits. She became upset and also discovered that the fault was that her apples were less red, her grapes were less green, her bananas were less yellow, and her tomatoes were less red. Every day, she glanced at everyone who sold fruits ruthlessly before turning her gaze to their destitute clients. Once, her neighboring vendor spoke” Mavshi, how long will you walk the path of honesty? Life is difficult, and to survive, you have to be corrupt. The whole world is corrupt.” Mavsi replied,” I would much rather die than feed others poison.” The vendor smiled and went back to selling fruits. When the fresh stock was purchased, the law enforcement officers arrived and tested every individual's stock for chemical contaminants. All but Mavshi were taken to jail after the checking was completed.
By Pranathi Rathore
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