Fairy tales often begin with: Once upon a time, and end with happily ever after. But then, like so many others, I too oscillated between belief and disbelief as I grew into my adulthood. When the auto driver in Chennai gave back the exact change, and the meter did not show a spike in its reading, I caught myself believing in fairy tales. But when I opened the newspaper to read about what was happening around the world, that same belief took a beating.

When 2020 came around with its pandemic, lockdown, and anxiety-riddled life, I stopped believing in fairy tales. Working from home blurred the line between professional and personal life until there was hardly a line left. The pressure to perform was relentless, and I had just landed a coveted project at the cost of a delightful friendship.

I stepped onto my first-floor balcony to take a deep breath before tackling my new role. It was a man-eat-man world out there, especially in the corporate sector. The victory, however, had left a sour taste in my mouth. My colleague was more competent than I was, and I knew she deserved to head the project. I had not played fair. But then, one couldn’t climb the corporate ladder without beating the competition.

My reverie was broken by the deafening call of the vendors. They were forced to sell their produce within the small time window given by the government before they had to head back home. Idly,  I watched the boy scream, “Seb Do sau pachas!”

“Organic Apples at two hundred and fifty a Kg,” screamed the freckled youth. His light-blue, checked shirt was half-tucked into his trousers of indeterminate color, faded by frequent washing and drying out in the sun. I watched as people gave him and his brightly painted cart filled with juicy apples a wide berth. His mask neither covered his nose nor his mouth. He reached out to people, scaring them even more. The pandemic made people wary of human beings, and this aggressive boy seemed to have scant regard for this unknown enemy, having its run with the second wave with no sign of things returning to normal.

Most customers, always on the lookout for a good bargain,  made a beeline to the quieter boy. He not only had his mask in the right place but also placed hand sanitizer next to a card that read ₹200 per kg. Moreover, his seemingly diffident attitude stood in stark contrast to the first boy’s aggressiveness.

Earlier, apples were considered expensive and out of reach of most customers. With increased awareness of healthy eating combined with more spending power thanks to lower expenditure on eating out, most families could afford to buy apples along with the locally grown bananas and guavas.

One positive outcome of the pandemic was the fact that people started preferring to frequent local vendors rather than shop in closed environments like the up-scale supermarkets.

I watched for some time, wondering why the boys were within yards of one another. Wouldn’t it have been sensible if the first boy had set up his stall in the neighboring street rather than the same? Foolish to expect to sell when your apples were priced more. I had to go in for a meeting, but I did wonder if I could just nip down and impart some tricks of the trade to the first boy, for I did feel that despite his making himself hoarse by shouting, the sales from his cart were far from decent.

Having marketing experience, I not only knew how the pricing worked but also knew the psychology of customers. The boys were not too far away from my mind. I found myself stepping once again onto the balcony with my cup of green tea to see how the boys and their carts of apples were faring. I thought by now one of the carts would be empty and the T-shirt-clad boy must be on his way home. Much to my surprise, I found the second cart still full of apples, with many customers selecting apples from it and the boy in the blue shirt continuing to badger customers. With narrowed eyes, I noticed that his cart was far lighter than it was in the morning. It took me a moment to realize, and I burst out laughing with sheer admiration.

The wise boys decided to work together rather than be in competition with one another. Tapping into the natural tendency of people to get a good bargain, they came up with this modus operandi, and I caught on that they shifted the apples from the unsold cart to the other and shared the profits.

As I watched, the two boys made their way into the tiny alley that led to their respective homes. They bought themselves a bottle of Coke and toasted each other for the two empty carts.

The good friends parted ways after a fist bump and a grin, then called it a day. Real life still had the “happily ever after” ending, I suppose. It just depended on how much you wanted to re-create the fairy tales in your life.

I took out my phone and called my boss. I realized that I needed my colleague to bring this project to fruition. She deserved the post more than I did.