Vendor Vocabulary

“Cae-rett, koli-phlaver, inji, takkalli, penis!” went the hawker.

Carrots, cauliflower, ginger, tomatoes and… penis!

Housewives leaned out their windows enquiringly… while I craned my neck to spot the hawker in the milling crowd. There was only his voice, ringing loud and hearty.

Penis? He hawks penis? I was stumped for a moment.

And then he came into view, his pushcart, piled high with “Cae-rett, koli-phlaver, inji, takkalli, penis!”

There on a corner of his cart was a neat little mound of beans!

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