@ Vegetable market…

The vegetable market day on Saturday started some months ago after we shifted here. We were invited during the inauguration and after that I and Mrs. KT had been a regular visitor. Sometimes we saw many vendors with varieties of local products while most of the time, there were few female vendors with some snacks and fruits. The vendors  usually remained in the vegetable market shed for about an hour to sell their products.

Since my friend and I taught classes PP and I, we didn't have any teaching period on Saturdays and we could always visit the vegetable market shed which was about 100 mts away from our school gate. Our favourite purchase was Shelruti (a southern Bhutanese delicacy) which we would take it back to the staffroom and share with other colleagues. It became a known routine to everyone known to us and every Saturday when we crossed the gate and walked towards the market shed, friends would comment “Shelruti Za ley dencha mo?” (going to purchase Shelruti?).

Once both of us got busy with lesson preparation and we forgot to check our watch. One of our colleagues reminded us about Shelruti and we rushed outside the gate only to see the lone vendor waiting for us. We had a hearty laugh over the purchase and thereafter the vendor always send us reminder whenever we got busy.

Today was a different scene. Most of my friends had left for vacation and I went to the market alone. The market shed looked deserted. There were only three vendors and my Shelruti vendor was missing. Upon inquiry I learned that she would not be available until the next spring when the school resumes…