He was looking at the banana as though he was looking at his own long separated friend whom he had just met and was speaking with him. The banana hawker has gone. But he was not out of my view.
Just then I saw a monkey jumping from the tree behind his bench and took the banana. He was silently staring at the monkey as though he was feeding his own pet. While the monkey unpeeled the banana, threw the skin on the bench and ate very happily, he kept staring silently at the monkey. The monkey finished eating and thanked him with a look and went back to his tree.
He consented by tossing his head. I asked him why he was watching the banana with such a strange look and why he did not eat the banana before the monkey caught and ate it. He laughed like a saint.
He told me few things.
“I am a farmer from a small village in a remote and rocky area. We are dependent on rain for anything. For drinking water we have to go miles from home. In our fields we have crops like ragi, jowar and bajra. We depend completely on natural rain. If we have no rain in monsoon time, we have no food for the whole year. Our food is just ragi or bajra, we cannot afford to eat rice”.
Then he paused for a while.
I am just beginning to understand what he knows about the bananas.