2050 AD - Shopping

Sonny: Mummy, I was reading my history book which mentioned a place called subzi mandi. What's this mandi all about?

Mummy (wistfully nostalgic at the mention of the sabzi mandi): My Sonny boy, those were the days we enjoyed the bliss of going around the market, choosing our stuff and haggling with the vendor just for the heck of it! In fact, going to the sabzi mandi was a weekly chore - buying vegetables for the week.

Sonny: But mom, what exactly is this sabzi mandi?

Mummy: Oh God! What dark ages have we come to!! My own child asking me what a bhaji market is while we, as children, had a good time accompanying our mums to the market! It is a place where vendors would get a variety of vegetables and fruits from the wholesale market and sell it in every locality. We would go around checking out the quality and freshness of the vegetables and buy it only after a bit of haggling. Some of the markets were not very clean but that's feature of our country.

Sonny: You mean you had to go around the filthy market place collecting vegetables and then carry them all the way home?

Mummy: Ah! The satisfaction of buying things after examining them with your own hands. Not like your Webmart and Webmarkets now-a-days where you just have to click on things, pay online and then they deliver it to your house. The vegetables never turn out to be the way they would be if I chose them with my own hands. But what to do that is the way life now.

Sonny: Mummy, Webmarts don’t do such a bad job. You can always choose the kind of quality you want, the size of your fruits and vegetables and the time you want it delivered at your place. It’s neat and sweat-free! You can also choose stuff and put them in a basket as you keep remembering them. And pay for them at the end of the day when you are sure there’s nothing more to add in your basket online.

Mummy: Yes, yes, you think it’s a very smart way to do it but god knows how old that vegetable will be and for long it would be there in the internet. You just go and order without finding out how fresh it is.

Sonny: Don’t worry mom, they give you the best quality and not something that’s been rotting in the internet for long!! Life'e better and faster then it was for you way back in 2010!