If a picture says a thousand words, here then are a few thousands of them. My international students almost always don't believe me when I tell them how we share the roads in India with our canine, feline, bovine, and porcine friends. Living in a country where pets enjoy a pampered status in society, and where pet supplies are a multi-billion dollar industry, it is inconceivable to them that dogs and cows would just roam the roads in India, and that it is not an uncommon sight to see a stray cat cross your path (and a black one doing that being a sign of bad luck!) or see pigs looking for litter on the streets, at least in some small towns, if not in the big cities. Another thing I've told them about are the vegetable vendors hawking their wares in baskets on their heads, and going from street to street shouting aloud what they are selling, and stopping at regular customers' houses to ask if they needed any particular vegetable. It is as if you have your very own mobile farmer's market coming to your doorstep or front gate. Here are a few vignettes that I captured:
A vegetable vendor at my mother-in-law's compound gate. The lady in blue is Irullayee, the domestic help from the neighboring village, seen here haggling over prices with the vendor.
A cornucopia of goodness, straight from the farms and fields! The greens and veggies are oh so fresh!
I asked Amma (my mother-in-law, in the brown sari) to buy some fresh "arai keerai" (a kind of spinach) that I love cooked in a mashed form and eaten with rice. Ever the foodie, ain't I?!?
Encountered this herd of buffaloes enroute to Fatima College, my alma mater, on one of the back roads. The chauffeur had to wait patiently till he had some space to manoeuvre the car and drive forward.
The cowherd showed no sign of letting us pass! :)
A cow standing lazily next to an autorickshaw, on the streets of Sivaganga, my husband's ancestral place
Some pigs loitering on the streets, scavenging for food among the litter and trash
More sights to follow ...
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