The Banana Lady
This woman sells cigarettes, chew and bananas on Racecourse Road in Bangalore. I passed by her everyday on the way to the Internet Cafe. She was always smiling, and I thought she was beautiful. Then one day, I stopped to chat with her. Guess what? She only speaks Kannada, the language of Karnataka. But, she patted the ground beside her, so I sat down next to her. I showed her my camera and she smiled. I took about 20 pictures of her. I poked through her little baskets of stuff, and asked the men standing around us, what it was. They motioned to their mouths, and I realized it was flavored tobacco. (I thought it was candy) She offered me some chew LOL! I said no thank you, then she gave me a banana.....So, there we were, two women, sitting side by side, not able to speak a word to each other, but sharing the same space, and well, I guess, a language of friendship. All the men standing around us, thought it was hilarious that I, American woman traveler, would sit down in the dirt next to this banana seller. I really thought she was terrific!
She has been working at this spot for at least the three years that I have been to Bangalore, and well, I'll just bet she'll still be there when I go back next December!
9 comments:
How cool!
Thank you for sharing these pics with us, I just love it.
That's a good thing if she can stay in the same place for a long time. She must be doing something right.
what a fabulous picture and what a wonderful experience to be able to corss language and culture and share a moment
Wow, that's really cool! It must of been really great experiencing that.
what a great title character for a book, "The Banana Seller".
Great pictures & such a great story!!
wow, what do you go there for?
aaahhhh...i remember my time in India so vividly...almost like a dream now...!!! :-)
That's beautiful! It's good for our souls to share space with other women, I think. I get so tired of the petty jealousies and cattiness, when we should be celebrating and encouraging each other. I really like your blog - found it from Osbasso's.
Post a Comment