"Maa, it has been a long time since you prepared a Baingan ka Bharta (brinjal mash). Why don’t we have it today,” 14-year-old Sakshi lovingly asked her mother who works as a housemaid in a posh Noida highrise. The mother, Laxmi, also affectionately responded and promised to cook the delicacy for dinner after returning from work.
The time was around 7 pm when Laxmi, after finishing her work, was returning home. Midway, she stumbled upon a vegetable vendor to buy brinjals. “Bhaiya, yeh baingan kaise diye (What is the price of the brinjal),” she asked, picking up a round-shaped, purple-cum-violet-coloured brinjal while her eyes closely observed it for any perished parts or minute holes.
“100 ke diye hai. Aapko 90 ka lag jayega (Have been selling it for Rs 100 but will give you in Rs 90),” the vegetable vendor’s reply was enough to shock Laxmi as she was checking the small 4”X4” pocket purse in which she had carefully squirrelled away five notes of Rs 10 each. After what seemed like a thorough pleading-cum-negotiation, she returned home with half a kilogram of brinjals and a Rs 10 note.
Walking back home, she kept wondering about the high prices of vegetables in the market and her struggles to meet the daily requirements of bread and butter. Laxmi isn’t the only sufferer. Off-late vegetable prices soared in the national capital and its satellite towns making it difficult for the people, especially the poor ones, to sustain with their daily or monthly wages.
As.