Pumpkins

Very topical isn’t? U see this white pulpy stuff, not really white, but blood red sprayed as pieces all over. Oh yes! We need all those evil driven off, so we don’t care about simple drivers like u & me..so we throw these pumpkin pieces all over -fully made up with red kumkum and what not.
But this post is not riling about that stupid act but something else connected to the same veg. We all know, its but normal for its price to soar beyond all logic this time of the year.
I got a call from a friend who said his friend from TVmalai called and that they had plan(t)ed pumpkin to make some killing (business, I mean) but things were different. They were offered only Rs 2 to 2.50 per pumpkin (not kilo!) and asked if I could help him. Hey, I can explain the whole dynamics and give you a reason why this phenomenon happens every year.. he immly said ‘I thought u were retired and u were not a consultant any more..’ joke, eh? Poda..and he continued “..so u cant help..” Not that I can and I did not, but this is far too gross for any one to intervene and pitch in.
These guys denied accepting that. They even asked some shops here at madras and they were offered Rs5/-!! They thought there should be some way out of this rut. They wudnt sell their pumpkins for 2 or 5! So they arranged to bring a full lorry load of it with a person from there. Then they just piled them up on a road side in Madras outskirts and sold each pumpkin for Rs20/- u math wizards calculate what % the middle men who offered to buy at 2 wud have made! The only expense these guys had was in ferrying the whole load to Madras. That costed them 3750/-
Oh! Don’t forget the Rs350/- they had to give to the cops each day of sale. How cool, eh?
So, whats the way out? Buying locally, buying from the source or atleast knowing the source, buy from small organic shops who procure directly from the farmers offering fair prices (eg. from restore), buying from farmers market (uzhavar sandhai) are some ways. Sadly, unless the Govt intervenes these ills shall remain.