A typical sight when you travel out of the Maharashtra cities. Rural folk, old ladies in nine yard sarees, a young girl on a school break, or even a young fellow sitting on his haunches , sometimes on the roadside, sometimes in temple bylanes; selling fresh guavas, fresh off the trees.
Cut,smeared with masala, they make an amazing addition to snacks eaten on trips. One such trip, undertaken by a group called Bisons Ride Hard, on motorcycles, doing a pilgrimage of all the various Ganesh Temples in Maharashtra, to celebrate the ongoing Ganpati festival.
Sometimes, Ganpati Bappa smiles, sometimes even the guava smiles, and sometimes even folks, a thousand miles away, smile....
young ladies.
Born and brought up
in the plains of the Deccan,
hanging around on trees
by riversides,
they always wondered
about the
roaring two wheelers
with chaps in uniform
going by with a flag,
depicting a wilder version
of buffaloes
they saw around the farms.
Coming of age
meant
they hung out
in lovely baskets
by the roadside,
and in temple courtyards,
sometimes
with Banana Bhais,
and sometimes
even
with Granny Sitaphal
keeping a beady eye on them.
Then one day,
he roared by,
astride a Royal steed,
a bit invisible in his helmet,
reversed,
and came to a stop.
Looked at them all,
asked his
pillion riding friend,
and decided
on one.
The old lady
near the basket,
smiled,
held her up,
and said ,
"Saheb, bagha !
Tumchi nivad achook ahe ..."***
and the lady guava smiled,
blushed pink
and
was captured on film....
Far away,
in a nippy morning in Delhi,
another lady ,
nodded to herself in great satisfaction.....
*** Marathi for "Sir, your choice is perfect !"
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