Billing for your fruit and vegetable shop in Goa
A kilo of okra, two bunches of methi and a neighbour's udhaar, all on one bill on your phone.
Why a Goa vegetable shop has bare shelves when it rains in Karnataka and a long queue before Chaturthi
When the rain falls in Karnataka, the shelf in Goa goes bare
Panaji vendors say heavy rain in Karnataka disrupts transport and harvests and causes shortages in Goa, and that prices rise every year just before Chaturthi, when people buy onions, potatoes and greens in bulk. For the shop owner this means a rate that is one thing on Monday and another by Wednesday, and a queue of families who each want a big bag at the same time.
A cut pumpkin, a bunch of radish and a handful of cluster beans on the scale
A pumpkin is too big to sell whole, so the stall cuts it and sells a slice by what it weighs. A woman wants a quarter of the pumpkin, a bunch of radish and cluster beans by the handful. The slice is the line nobody writes down. At night the pumpkin is gone from the shelf and there is no bill behind it, so the money in the box is short of what the stall thinks it sold.
The eating house that takes vegetables every morning and pays at the month's end
A small hotel in the lane sends a boy every morning for onions, brinjals and greens, and the owner settles the account once a month. Alongside it, there are families who also take on credit. By the end of the month the owner holds two kinds of dues, and cannot say with confidence which day the hotel's boy took the extra kilo of pumpkin.
From Monday's onions at Monday's rate to the hotel boy's basket billed at the scale
A family's Monday bag and its Wednesday bag, each at the rate of its own day
When rain in Karnataka holds up the trucks, onions cost more by Wednesday than on Monday. Change the rate once on the phone before the first customer. Each bill keeps the rate of its day, so a family can read its Monday bill and its Wednesday bill side by side, each with its date and its price.
A festival bag of onions, potatoes and greens on one bill, with its weights
A family that is buying for the big meal asks for ten kilos of onions, five of potatoes and six bunches of greens. Make one bill with each kilo and each bunch, send it to the family's WhatsApp, and the stock of onions falls by exactly ten kilos. At closing, the shelf and the count agree, so you know how much to order for the next morning.
The eating house's boy and his basket, billed at the scale
The small hotel's boy takes onions, brinjals and greens before the first customer is at the shop. Make the bill as he stands at the scale and send it to the hotel's WhatsApp. At the month's end the hotel has thirty bills with thirty dates, and an argument about a Wednesday is settled by that Wednesday's bill.
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The farm that brought its stall bills and its online shop under one roof
Tools for a counter that sells okra by the kilo and methi by the bunch
Bills on your phone
A cut pumpkin slice by its weight, a bunch of radish and a handful of cluster beans on one bill, sent to the family's phone before the boy has left the scale.
Low stock warnings
Onions and potatoes shown as running low on the Monday the Chaturthi week begins, while the trucks from Karnataka are still held up by rain.
Orders to suppliers
The load that reaches Goa after a week of heavy rain in Karnataka, noted vegetable by vegetable against the order sent, so the shortage is a list of what did not come.
Credit book (khata)
The unusually big festival bag of Chaturthi week, written on the family's page by its weights and dated, so the family reads what the big bag was.
What a Goa vegetable shop owner asks before starting
When the monsoon holds the Karnataka lorry back, why is the lorry's bitter gourd dearer than the farmer's?
The lorry's road cost is in its price, and in the monsoon the road costs more. The farmer's gourd walks to your stall and keeps its rate. Say that to the woman at the scale, and keep the lorry's rate where the road put it.
The boy walked off before I sent the bill. Does the sale still count?
Yes. The sale is made when you bill it, and the stock comes down then, whether the boy is still at the scale or not. The day's total is right, and the family gets the bill when you have a hand free.
A woman says the cut pumpkin slice was cheaper last week. Why is it dearer today?
A slice is sold by weight, so a bigger slice costs more at the same rate. Weigh it again in front of her and show the kilos on the bill.
Where the vegetables on a Goa shelf come from
Goa State Horticulture Corporation, the nodal agency for vegetable supply, mainly buys from APMC markets that import large quantities from neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra. A shop that sells those vegetables is one more link in a chain that starts across the state line, and the rate on its board is the last step of that chain.
Major vegetables grown in Goa include bitter gourd, okra, bottle gourd, brinjal, cucumber, pumpkin, chilli, cluster bean, radish, palak and methi. A Goa family asks for these by name at the scale, and a stall that has them keeps the family.