Weekly Photo Challenge: Okra in the ‘Fray’

In a traditional village market of India, often called bazaar, haat or hatia in local dialects, where bargains are done very competitively, a number of buyers and sellers are in the fray. Bargains are done so competitively sometimes that it resonates with a war-pitch often. Farmers wait for the day to sell their local produce in the market, directly to the end customer. These are mostly small, retail markets, mostly very colorful and crowded. And despite having a competitive atmosphere, you will find plenty of reasons to smile and pass on the smile, and invariably small chats either with your fellow buyers or with the thick-skinned, hard-nosed seller.

This photo is shot in a weekly village market in Bihar – one of the eastern states of India. Here in this photo, evidently there are two aspects of ‘fray’. Firstly, both the buyer and the seller are in the fray as to who makes a better deal during the bargaining process. Both of them are busy now. Let me mention here that in India, bargaining is very common in local fruit and vegetable market.

Secondly and most importantly, there is a competition among the best ( or the better) and the average-looking okra (or Ladies’ Finger or Bhindi, as called in India). All shapes, sizes and quality of okra are in the fray here. One cannot but pity the state of these ‘poor’ Okra , which are being jostled for by both buyer and the seller, so that best okras can be picked up. How about the fate of other unlucky okras? Sad. Some of the not-so-good-and-glamorous okras may be lamenting over their fate because they will be rejected by many buyers before they are picked up. Sorry Okras, some of you do not have a choice to climb up the podium of the weight balance! Only option left for you is to retain your freshness as long as possible, with a smile on your ‘crown’ and wait for your next suitor 🙂

This post was part of Weekly Photo Challenge and the topic is Fray. More photos here.

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Read another post on India, from Delhi, titled Flutes here.

Wanna know about a great mathematician and cybernetician, Norbert Wiener? Read  more about him here.

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