Thoughts unlimited

In every district, Collectorates and courts (generally called Kutchery) are the places where public has to visit either for necessary documents or for cases in which they are involved. The government offices and courts have their own rules for the work and most of the time a person has to visit many times to get a work done. Poor people who do not own a vehicle and come from distant villages have to rely on private transport services but these transport services are not available frequently if passengers are few. In such cases generally a mini bus or Jeep would bring people at the district headquarter around 10:00 AM and return back around 5:00 PM in the evening. People coming from these villages have no option but to remain around the Kutchery till 5:00 PM even if they have no work after 11:00 AM. This time without work is boring but there are sellers around Kutchery who attract these people to sell their items. Apart from eatables of a variety of items one can see people selling peculiar items that are hard to find elsewhere.

Selling "Pahadi Imli" near Kutchery.
Tamarind from the mountain

Different types of homemade medicines or parts of unseen plants from the forest are sold, claiming their miraculous healing properties and curing effects for common ailments like joint pains, gas, piles, diabetes, blood pressure, and even sex related diseases. Another group of sellers takes advantage of the uncertainties in the lives of people, and many such people are among those passing the time. Many of them are involved in lengthy cases in courts that may last many, many years or even into the next generation. This makes them superstitious and easily attracted towards roadside 'Fortune tellers' (Jyotishi). These Jyotishi tell futures by reading palms or selecting cards. Card selecting Jyotishi may be further eye-catching due to his trained parrot that sits inside a cage, and when its master opens the cage, it comes out, selects a card among many, hands it over to Jyotishi, and simply goes back to its cage. On the basis of this card, the Jyotishi tells the future of the person sitting in front of him. Another type of Jyotishi sells miraculous rings to be worn on the fingers and "Tabij" (Amulet). They claim that these things protect the owner from evil eyes or fulfill wishes. They also sell old iron horseshoes (Ghode ki Naal) and iron nails of boats (Naav ki Keel) or rings made of this iron.
Then there are some vendors who exchange old currency notes for new ones for a commission. The commission varies according to the extent of the damage. A few vendors make and sell stamps called "Muhar" in Hindi. There are plant and seed sellers who grow in numbers during the Monsoon.
One may find an 'old coins seller' who will show small and big coins from days more than a hundred years ago. Coins of British periods and coins of small kingdoms or "Jamindaars". Even coins of about 40 years ago, which we had used but are now not in use, include 1 p, 3 p, 5 p, 10 p, and yellow coins of 20 p having a lotus flower on them.
Sometimes people need urgent passport-size photos, and they get them within minutes from digital photographers who keep small printers operated by batteries. Before these digital cameras came, photographers used a box-type camera with a black curtain. These were very basic cameras with ordinary lenses and cap-type shutters, and photographic plates. The customer had to sit like a statue for a few moments in front of the camera when the photographer would open the camera shutter for a few seconds and develop a negative inside the camera. Then he would place this negative near the camera lens on a stand and repeat the process to make photos. It took more than half an hour to deliver the pics, and the quality was also not good, but the whole process looked very funny.
In those times, there happened to be one more thing, which was the play of "Monkey, Jamura, and Madari". The crowd called "Majma" would encircle them and see the act of the three with a lot of interest. The most interesting happened to be the dialogues between the "Jamura and Madari," which related to light moments from daily life to satire on politics. Now these shows are not seen, perhaps due to the "Animal Cruelty Laws". The same is the reason for the vanishing "Snake Charmers"; otherwise, they were an integral part of the life around the "Kutchery".
So, as a whole, the life around "Kutchery" is very interesting and a good time-pass for people without work who also become buyers in this process and give "Roji-roti" (Employment) to these interesting sellers. But this interesting world is not without danger because "Pickpockets" and "Thugs" also roam there, and it is better to be careful when in such places.

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