The beauty of it all .....

Long before fancy folks introduced the word "entrepreneur", some rural folks have been introducing us city folks to handmade implements with great use in kitchens and gardens.  One such lady in a roadside stall selling various types of knives and implements, on the periphery of Delhi, cheerfully roasting in the midmorning sun. The woman who sells the knives, iron tools, Kadhais, Mortar and pestles, wooden chaklas etc. at the weekly bazaar...

Clicked by my blogfriend, gardener, birder, and nutrition researcher Sangeeta Khanna , on one of her forays , possibly looking for handmade traditional implements for her house.

The lady in the picture, probably never learnt marketing, or  fancy talk with customers, but can possibly give a run for their money to those in a uniform, a badge around their neck, wandering in air conditioned halls.

The inconvenience, the Sun, the  missing "road" in the roadside, and the quiet effort to earn for her family. Making friends with Sangeeta an additional plus. 

And it all shows in this beautiful face....

Rawa***,
roasted brown and fragrant,
like the old rich
simple
and respectful;
perhaps
a mass of dalia****,
with a bit of
clove, cinnamon,
and nuts;
or perhaps,
a beautifully stirred payasam
smiling at you
as it thickens
enjoying
the almond eyes,
and pistcahios,
and raisins
amidst safrron streaks
in a morning Sun.

Beauty and practicality
meet
with great alacrity
as the fair white dupatta
rises up
to wipe a
shining wet face,
and in a
complete understatement says,
" I guess I should have known this....
Fair isnt Lovely any more....!"


***Rawa : Cream of wheat
****Dalia : Broken wheat,bulgur