Page 17 - Seniorstoday September-2023 Issue

to open his own chemist shop in the village.
The fisherwoman’s daughter migrated to
the US and did not want her mother to go
door to door. The mother did go to the US
for six months but came back to selling door
to door saying she enjoyed her work. She
now has the latest phone and has become
very tech savvy. One can order and she will
have stuff delivered.
Besides these vendors, there was a man
who came from Gujarat once in two months
with buffalo ghee, and one youngster who
came once in six months brought honey.
There was something about a relationship
with these vendors… one trusted them to get
the best stuff. Often they would ask if we
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #51 | SEPTEMBER 2023
needed any domestic help, they probably
had a nephew wanting a job and sometimes
it was the other way around. We needed
domestic help and they would get someone
from the village. During the mango season,
they would get raw mangoes for pickling.
On a happy occasion one would give them
Mithai and of course Diwali Baksheesh was
a taken -for-granted requirement.
Covid put an end to a lot of vendors who
would come door to door, societies did
not allow these people to come into the
building. And after that, the likes of Big
Basket, Jio Mart, BlinkIt, Instamart and
Zepto made them redundant. Urbanisation
sure has taken its toll.
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