Rags to Riches (standard:non fiction, 480 words)
Author: Juggernaut	Added: Oct 01 2011	Views/Reads: 2869/3	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A tale of Papaya

Rags to Riches 

A Tale of Papaya 

Subba Rao 

“You don't sell papaya?” 

“No, only apples and grapes,” “you keep walking to the end of 

the line, you may find papayas,” said the woman vendor in the daily 

market without even making an eye contact with Juggernaut standing face 

to face with her.     The fruit vendors in the daily market are of 

totally a different breed; they look, dress and speak different from 

rest of the local population. They are the descendents of an old 

immigrant group from a neighboring state. It's hard to understand their 

vocabulary and any attempt to bargain their prices down would only 

results in either verbal or even physical assault. So nobody dare 

bargain with them; you take or leave it for your own safety. 

In hot sun and air filled with odor of rotten fruits, 

Juggernaut walked slowly by-passing other vendors selling oranges, 

pomegranates, mangoes, pineapples, bananas, gooseberries, Jack Fruits 

and other fruits then found at last a papaya vendor. “How come you were 

at the back of the market?” 

“Only poor people buys papaya for a small price so we can only 

afford cheap stalls at the end of the line,” pondered the old woman 

vendor protecting herself from hot Sun with a large umbrella made from 

dried palm leaves. 

The fruit vendor stalls begin with Apple and grape at the 

front of the market place followed by orange and mango, and ends with 

papaya at the back of the market as if it followed a natural order; 

rich in the front and poor at the back. But, this was some decades ago. 

But now, there is no wasteland left in the country for papaya 

trees to grow wild with plentiful cheap papaya.  Papaya is cultivated 

in fruit orchards like other fruits and with prices comparable with 

other orchard fruits are now sold for a premiere price.  Papaya is now 

wrapped in a special paper and sold by weight along with apples and 

grapes in the same fruit stall at the front of the marker. “I would 

rather walk to the back of the market and buy cheap papaya than at the 

front of the market for an exorbitant price,” complained Juggernaut 

rather loudly while buying a fully ripe papaya wrapped in a fancy 

paper. 

“Not everybody is crazy about my aroma but pound per pound; I 

provide more quality nutrients than apples, grapes or any other fruit 

in the market; seeds inside me when dried are as good spice as black 

pepper; tender leaves from my tree when cooked tastes like spinach with 

a special flavor; when I am green, enzymes in me can tenderize any 

tough meat; which fruit can boast all these benefits?” “Don't get cheap 

on me Juggernaut pay up from your deep pockets, at last I got the 

respect I deserve,” papaya shouted back from inside the wrap. 


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