Champacas on a chilly afternoon

The sky seemed to recover today. The cloudy congestions finally started to clear and the impertinent December rain appeared to slow down. I stepped out into my neighborhood in what felt like months for an assignment. The general clammer of voices on the roads were subdued; owing to the long winter afternoon slumbers that everyone partook in. The air was still a bit nippy but not too terrible to clamp me down to my bed all day. Wrapped in layers of alternate skin, I rushed through the empty parks to get to the flower cart near the temple.

Amongst the drove of flower sellers who were mostly asleep, I saw this one woman who was stacking up her cart with the vigour one would usually possess at the start of their day. I examined the flowers briefly, with the pretension of having any knowledge about the variety laid out in front of me. The woman began speaking to me in rushed sentences, naming and shoving flowers in front of my masked face hoping to bag another customer. With an awkward apprehension I finally informed her that I was here to capture some photographs for an assignment and not make a purchase. To my surprise, her face lit up. She immediately cleared up her workspace and sprinkled fresh water on her stock. She straightened out the petals on the roses and recoiled the yellow and orange marigolds, she fanned out the lotuses and spread out the champaca flowers. Her gracious warmth at that ungodly afternoon hour startled me. She called me over to her side of the carts and explained what each flower was used for. “Tell your teacher all this, you’ll get good marks” she said as she ended her trivia.

I decided to buy a flower from her to thank her for her patience and apologise for my intrusion. Despite being lectured for the last 30 odd minutes, my eyes cluelessly surfed through the pile looking for something to take back. “Here” she said offering a green paper bag full of lotuses and Champacas. I pulled out my wallet to pay her when she gladly refused my money. “I had fun helping you, no need to pay” she smiled and returned to another customer. And this was the story of my brief moment of warmth on a chilly Bangalore afternoon