💬 Weekend vegetable shopping at the local market calms me down

Every Saturday morning I go to the vegetable market near Mallepally with my father. He's 68 and he's in charge. I carry the bags. That's my whole job. He does the picking, the smelling, the pressing of every tomato. It takes 1 and a half hours to buy what a supermarket would give you in 15 minutes. I don't mind at all. It's the calmest part of my week, which surprised me when I first noticed it. He knows every vendor. The okra man asks about his knees. The lady with the greens asks about my mother. He bargains over 5 rupees and then gives 10 extra to the old man selling curry leaves. Every week. I asked him once why he bothers bargaining at all. He said the bargaining is the conversation. If you just pay, they don't talk to you. I've thought about that a lot since. There's no music, no air conditioning, no offers on the screen. Just noise, wet floors and people. I leave my phone in my pocket the whole time because my hands are full of bags anyway. After, we have tea at the stall at the corner. He reads the vegetable prices out loud like the news. Tomatoes 40, onions 35. Same every week. He's still shocked every week. Anyone else find this kind of shopping calming? Or is it just a chore for you? I know it's not for everyone. My younger brother came once and was on his phone the whole time. I worry a bit about what happens when my father can't do this anymore. I don't know half these vendors' names. So I've started learning them. The okra man is Yadaiah. The greens lady is Lakshmi.

Cannot relate at all personally, grocery shopping remains firmly a chore for me no matter which market or store I try going to instead of the usual one. Respect anyone who finds it calming though, my version of that unhurried feeling comes from browsing a bookstore instead, not comparing vegetables at different stalls for twenty minutes on a weekend afternoon.

Supermarkets never worked for me either. I switched to the small market near my flat about a year ago. The vegetable man now sets aside the good coriander when he sees me coming. I never asked him to. Last week he asked why I skipped Saturday. I said I was sick. He gave me 2 free lemons. Never got that at a supermarket, and nobody ever asked if I was sick.