Ms Rawat Fruit Co

Setting up the stalls at Sector 22 on N H Road is a lot of work. We start while it's still dark because the trucks from the mandi arrive early. Number 35 is where we keep all the crates. You can smell the oranges or mangoes depending on the month. Some days the fruit is perfect, other days we have to spend hours sorting out the bruised ones. It’s a messy business. Your hands get sticky and the floor gets covered in leaves. We don't have fancy displays, just wooden boxes tilted so people can see what’s inside. The road is always loud with cars going past. People stop their bikes quickly, grab a kilo of something, and move on. We recognize the faces even if we don't know the names. It’s a lot of standing around and talking about the weather or the prices. The price of apples goes up and everyone complains, but we just show them the invoice from the wholesaler. We don't make the prices; we just sell what we get. When the monsoon hits, we have to pull the plastic sheets down fast or everything gets ruined. It’s a simple life. We close up when the sun goes down and the traffic thins out. Tomorrow we do it all over again with a new load of fruit. It is tiring work but we are used to the rhythm of the road now. We just try to sell good stuff to the people passing by.