The Milk Lady of Bangalore by Shoba Narayan

Author:Shoba Narayan
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 2017-12-07T05:00:00+00:00

Part Two

12

My Milk Woman Has a Proposition

We stand on the sidewalk and talk, Sarala and I and the other ladies—about schools and recipes; cows and power cuts; babies and bath water. A breeze ruffles our hair. Everyone is relaxed. Noisy parakeets circle a fruiting fig tree nearby. Milk from the cow’s udder squirts softly and rhythmically into the large bucket.

Selva carries the bucket of milk to the culvert. We crowd around like bees. Army rookies in khaki half-pants and white vests show up out of nowhere. They thrust their cans to the front of the line. A fight threatens to break out. Sarala placates everyone, speaking in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, and Hindi by turn.

Sarala has a system. She pours the milk and then adds a little extra; a couple of teaspoons to top it off, as a goodwill gesture—“for joy,” as she says. It is a smart marketing tactic. Most of her customers don’t pay attention to whether she measures their three or four liters of milk correctly using her well-worn, aluminum measuring cup. But if she doesn’t give them the extra kosuru, as we call it, people notice. Today, she fails to spoon out my joy.

“Where is my extra kosuru?” I complain.

“What to do, Madam?” Sarala replies. “We are short of cows.”

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