Saturday 20 February 2010

 ḜɤɛɾƳƉǡŷ ƪŠ ɱaɼkℇ₮Ɖǡŷ 


At the entrance to the city market are all the fruit sellers, people just bring a basket of fruit and sit and sell them. This treasure chest of pomegranate jewels was rich and oozing with juice. The fruits here are so organic and pure and all grown by sunlight and with love. They make our mass produce in the UK look full of false promise like a dodgy good looking bloke. All looks and no substance. This fresh produce sings with energy and flavour and if it's true that we are what we eat, then this week I may turn into a pineapple. A happy juicy flavour full pineapple. A bit crooked around the edges but full of charm and personality ;-)
It seems that my 'spiritual' practise is not penetrating as deeply as I hoped, as everything goes by the by on arrival at the market. Full of poise and determination and material denial on my yoga mat...I turn into the worst kind of shopper. Faced with the Spoon Stall I am full of agony about the fact that I want every single version. Just look at them. What would you choose? Spoons for baking, serving and even spooning. My favourites are made from rosewood, I'm not sure if that's wrong or right. But do I even care? I know it's going to seem crazy when I unpack but if you ever come round for dinner or group baking sessions we are going to be well served.
This stall, and there are a few like it, worries me. Selling hair. Why? For whom? Whose hair was it? I don't like it a bit, but I do love the stallholder... can you see him? Bald as a coot. Got short of stock mate? I feel all itchy now and it makes me want short hair. Why do we covet the dead stuff that grows out of our heads? 

Just so you can appreciate the indecision and drooling that the market provokes, this is the inimitable and wonderful RoobieRoo modelling the bag selection on one stall. What is a girl to do? They are all beautiful, all cheap and made with recycled materials by local women. Good strong bags in great designs and colour combos galore. The banter and the good humour is delightful among the stallholders & customers, not like the miserable misers we have to deal with at home. They shrug and laugh and somehow with all the language barriers we seem to get by. Numbers are the same everywhere right? And one clever little fellow said I looked like Carla Bruni the other day so I adore them.
ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT. 
I am so excited to come home and see all my loved loved ones
but so sad that this, like all good things, has to come to an end.
It's time to roll my sleeves up and get back to some serious slog.
Someone has to pay my spoon bill.

9 comments:

nath said...

ARGH! i want ALL the spoons too, but then i haven't been working on my covetous wanty muscle. love the bags and the pomegranates. siiigh, i'm going to vicariously miss India too. please send more posts before you go!

XXXX

chocolategirl64 said...

omg the hair stand has really unnerved me:
thoughts of young girls being scalped for western ideals of beauty: *shiver* women of a certain age look sophisticated with short hair *unless your name is Jerry Hall, the only woman to carry off long hair imho*

I shall surely miss such riotous colour of your postcards from India: they have brightened up the dullest of English days: soak up the rest of your visit and as Nath says ~ send more posts before you go!
❤☯

Dear Charles said...

Och...I love the spoons and HATE the hair. Urgh...it would make me feel itchy as well, when Shiv had extensions she used to wave them at me knowing my fear!! I cant so much as look at a hairnet without wincing. Still....the spoons....think of the spoons.

Edna Gumball said...

Ooh, pomegranates.
Pomegranate and strawberries on New York cheesecake for the Reunion Meal Desert xx

Louise said...

Nath, That's my problem, I can't find my 'wanty' muscle so I can work on it! That made me laugh. A lot.
CG, Apparently, a lot of women will shave their hair off as an offering to Gods, then it gets sold. Almost all the women here carry full length waist length hair and it is beautiful, the way they oil it and plait it with jasmine. Even the elderly. They make Jerry Hall look like a hag!
DC,Shiv's hair extensions blocked up the vac on a daily basis.
BB Who's cooking up a treat then? Are we booking it for Sunday 7th? Can you coordinate? XXX

Lizzie said...

I'm comforted to hear that women choose to shave their hair off, before it is sold!
You're right about Indian women having great hair - even some of the ladies here, in chilly UK, have beautiful, long, lucious locks. The elderly ones included.

I am so enjoying your trip to India! I love to follow your blog posts and hear/see what has been happening.

Couldn't you just stay there for always and get us to subscribe to a "Support Fund"? Then you could continue these wonderful posts for ever..

Hmm, disturbing idea actually... I do hope you have a wonderful two-more-weeks and are happy to see all your friends and family when you return!

Louise said...

Thanks Lizzie
I'll be back in India again next year, it's a pilgrimage for me...nice idea about the fund though..you all donate and I'll write about my adventures? Nice!
Seriously, I am soooo happy to be going home and catching up with a big bag of love...I've got a lot of blogposts to catch up with the rest of you too...
x

Meghan Mansfield said...

I know where that hair comes from and I know where it goes. You need to watch this film!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A68UVn0nMvo

Unknown said...

mmmm, pineapples, pineapples. And great stripey bags to carry them in and great big spoons to eat them with.
Can't wait to have you back too!