Giselle Regina Fernandes
SIOLIM: Markets are places where we go to buy or sell things. Often, we come back with unexpected purchases – sometimes a delight, sometimes a guilty pleasure. But this is a story of how Vijaya Gadkar went to the market and found herself a lifelong friend.
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Hailing from Karasvado, Mapusa , Vijaya is now in her late 70s, but her tale begins when she was married in her early teens. She and her husband were blessed with two young sons, and life seemed to be going well for her; they lived in a small, thatched hut, where she cooked, cleaned and took care of the kids while her husband worked and provided for their family. But unfortunately, life got hard when her husband suffered a stroke one day. Suddenly, Vijaya found herself with a bedridden husband to care for, two kids to provide for, and no income. To keep her family afloat, Vijaya sought help from her neighbour Mary, who was always willing to lend a helping hand.
Like a little lamb, Vijaya followed her friend Mary to the Mapusa Market; where she would learn from her the art of selling coconuts. This became Vijaya’s new routine; she would wake up earlier than the sun, cook and complete her chores to ensure her kids and husband were set for the day, and then she would set off at 5 am to reach the market at 6am. Thus began her training as a coconut seller, learning the tricks of the trade under the guidance of her friend Mary. “Those were simpler times” Vijaya recalls, “40-45 years ago, everyone knew everyone, and there were only Goans in the market. People were warm and considerate to one another. You could count on mutual trust, and people would keep their word, so if they said they’d pay me later, it wasn’t a worry, because they would pay. The first time I didn’t have enough even 15 paise to pay the ‘Sopo – Market tax’, but others often helped. When I made enough selling coconuts, which started off at about Rs 2 to Rs 5 I paid off whatever I could. There was a faith in each other then.” After a while Vijaya got a hang of the trade and started selling on her own. Then came the day, Vijaya got a new neighbour beside her stall; a woman named Perpet Fernandes, who would go on to become one of Vijaya’s closest friends. The two ladies would sit together from morning 6 am until the end of the business day at 6 pm. With each passing day, their friendship grew, and together they shared life’s highs and lows, always being a constant and steadfast support for one another. As the years went by, and when Vijaya was able to save more, Vijaya’s main priority was the wellbeing of her family and her kids’ education. Through her savings she could even afford to repair part of her house that had been damaged. “I always did my best to save. Even on good days, I wouldn’t splurge, I was satisfied with just black tea, and bread, because every paisa I saved, would go to my family to my kids, so they had a better life than I could,” she says.
Her sons have grown up and made better lives for themselves, but Vijaya still loves going to the market and selling things, so her sons often help by dropping and picking her from the market on the bike instead her walking all the way. As age caught up to her, she thought of leaving this line of work, because it was getting more difficult to carry on alone. That’s when her best friend and comrade, Perpet stepped up. Perpet couldn’t fathom Vijaya not being there by her side, so they devised a plan together.
Perpet told Vijaya she didn’t mind sharing her profits with Vijaya, all she wanted was companionship. And that’s how it continues till date; Vijaya stops by at 6 am and waits for the black tea and hot chapatis that Perpet makes daily. So thick is their friendship that Perpet even does Vijaya’s laundry because she knows that her friend finds it difficult to carry out this task at her age.
“I can’t help it, she’s just such a kind wonderful person, I love being with her, and I’d do anything to help her. She’s so polite, affectionate, and loving; she draws customers to her by just being who she is. They love her and trust her and her honest nature just as I do,” confesses Perpet. You can still find them both in the Mapusa Market trading in locally grown pulses, rice, kokum, water-pickle, homemade masalas, toddy, vinegar, eggs and local limes.
But their main product is local coconuts, and coconut oil which they say is very healthy unlike the synthetic stuff that smells nice but isn’t healthy. Both women are devout in their faith and in their friendship to each other. As they spent so many years sharing their lives and space, it has bound them to each other in an unbreakable bond of love and respect.
