Aam aur saib ki kahani..

The first few days at summer school we spent part of our free time talking to the students there. One of the students who worked as a fruit vendor, told me about his job. He sells watermelons along with his brothers at the local sabzi mandi (fruit/vegetable market). The other kids tease him, saying there are rats in the produce he sells.
When I inquire, he tells me that rats often turn up in the area where they store the food and that has been causing some issues. I suggest he make use of rat poison but he tells me that way the chemicals could get into the food too. I suggest he use rat traps but he says they’re ineffective. I ask him about what other fruits he sells and he names them. Then he says, ‘Teacher, which fruits do you like?’ and I say ‘I like aam (mangoes) and saib (apples).’ He tells me he doesn’t sell those, they’re too expensive.

Fast forward three weeks.

I’m taking a class on photosynthesis and how plants make food using energy from the sun. I start off asking them to list down on their notebooks the names of foods they like. I ask some of them one by one what are some of the things they wrote.

‘Shimla mirch (capsicum), chawal (rice), chicken,’ says one. I write capsicum on the board.

‘Chips, burger, biscuit, biryani, bhindai (ladyfingers),’ says another. The class chuckles since bhindai is the nickname of one of the students. I refrain from writing bhindi on the board.

‘Chicken, palak (spinach), aloo (potatoes),’ shares another. I write palak and aloo on the board.

‘Aam aur saib,’ cry out the two students in unison who had been present during the fruit conversation three weeks ago. I write these words on the board and it hit me all of a sudden why they said what they did..