THE JAMUNWALLI (THE BLACK PLUM SELLER)

She was diminutive, reed-thin, dark, with searing big eyes and mustn’t have been more than five feet standing erect. Her hair was parted in the middle, oiled with pigtails with colorful ribbons on the ends. Though she mustn’t have been more than 10 or 12 at the most, she zipped around with the enthusiasm and feral energy of a cheetah. With her basket loaded with the jamun fruit, she darted around from one car to the another or to an autorickshaw or waiting for scooters or bi-cycles parked at the railway crossing in Vile Parle, Mumbai. Google has this to say about the jamun fruit, for those who are not familiar with it. “Jamun, also known as Java plum and black plum, is a colorful summer fruit with several benefits. Native to India, jamun is a pretty fruit with rich color and sweet taste. The fruit is popular for its deep blue or purple color.” If you haven’t tasted this fruit, when fully ripe, it’s really tasty, bursting into sweet and slightly sour flavors, until you get into the extraordinarily large pit of the fruit. The only problem partaking this fruit is that it leaves the tongue a deep hue pf purple, which stays for maybe a day or more if you eat too many of them.

With her cane basket in one hand, filled with purple jamuns, she’d hawk her wares to the people waiting at the manned (or unmanned, I honestly don’t remember) railway crossing and when she was done selling…