Billing for your fruit and vegetable shop in Gujarat
Kilo, box and bundle on one bill, and the first-of-the-month udhaar on one page.
Kesar boxes, Jain bags and the first-of-the-month slip: three troubles of a Gujarat sabji counter
Kesar mangoes: the hard box and the ripe box change rate after lunch
When the Kesar mangoes arrive, the hard fruit and the ripe fruit carry different rates. After lunch a new box is opened and the rate changes with it. By night nobody can say which customer was told which rate, the one before lunch or the one after. The customer who paid the first rate hears of the second from a neighbour.
The Jain bag and the undhiyu bundle, packed from one heap
Some families in the lane want no potato, onion or garlic in their bag, so their order is packed apart and checked twice. In the cold months another family comes for the undhiyu bundle of surti papdi, purple yam, raw banana and brinjal. Both are priced in your head and written on a slip as just 'sabji', and the slip cannot tell the two bags apart when somebody asks.
The small evening top-up of methi and coriander
Through the evening the flats behind the lane and the tea stall next door come back for a top-up of methi, coriander and lemons. Each top-up is small, a bunch or two, so nobody thinks it worth a note. They pay when the salary comes, and by then the small top-ups are a month long.
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One rate for ripe Kesar, one bundle for undhiyu, one page for the first of the month
Ripe and hard Kesar as two items, a box as a third
Make Kesar ripe and Kesar hard two items, each with its own rate by the kilo, and Kesar by the box a third. When a new box is opened, change one rate on your phone. Every bill after that uses it, and the morning's bills keep the morning's rate. A student's dozen and a family's box go through the same screen in a few taps.
The Jain order that stays apart, the undhiyu bundle that is one line
Keep the Jain family's order as its own bill under its page, listing only what went into the bag. Make the undhiyu bundle one item with a rate per bundle. When the family asks what was in the bag last Friday, you open the bill and read the lines instead of trying to recall them.
Methi and coriander for the flat, lemons by count for the tea stall, each on a page of its own
Some evenings the flat wants only a bunch of methi and a bunch of coriander, and the tea stall takes lemons by count. Give each a page and put every evening's small bill under its date. On the first you read out the total and send it on WhatsApp. Greens go by the bunch and lemons by the piece, so neither is guessed in the month's sum.
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Tools for a Gujarat sabji counter, from the mango box to the evening list
Bills on your phone
On a Sunday morning the flats send a boy with a list, and he walks away with one bill on the family's WhatsApp that names the Kesar, the methi and the undhiyu bundle he carried.
Credit book (khata)
A page for the flat block and a page for the tea stall, every evening's greens dated, so the first of the month is one reading.
Daily reports
Kilos of Kesar sold on each day from April to June kept as separate lines, so next season you open the same weeks and buy to what sold.
Orders to suppliers
The Kesar order to the mango agent, written with the count of the hard and the ripe boxes in front of you, and the surti papdi lots for the sabji market.
Online orders
The flats behind the lane send the evening list before six, and the bag is packed and waiting at the counter when the boy comes.
Manek Chowk mornings, Banaskantha potatoes and Junagadh farms: the Gujarat behind a vegetable counter
Three parts of Gujarat, and what a vegetable shop hears about them from the people who come in.
- Manek Chowk in Ahmedabad is a vegetable market in the morning, one of India's largest gold, silver and jewellery markets by day, and a food market at night.
- Banaskantha is Gujarat's largest potato producer, and Banas Dairy at Palanpur, sold under the Amul brand, is Asia's largest dairy cooperative.
- Junagadh's economy is mainly farming: over 65% of the area is under oilseeds, mainly groundnut and cotton, and the National Research Centre for Groundnut is here.
Farmers' market stalls and an online shop that came to one place
Questions a Gujarat vegetable shop asks about mangoes, Jain orders and undhiyu
Half a box of Kesar is ripe today and half stays hard for tomorrow. How do I show that?
Take the box off the box item when you open it, and put what it holds on the ripe item and the hard item, by the kilo, as you split it. The evening count then says what is left ripe, what is left hard and how many boxes are still shut.
Surti papdi is in the market for a few weeks and runs out before the undhiyu bundles are all made. How do I see it coming?
Keep surti papdi loose as an item of its own by the kilo, and note each lot when it arrives. When the count is near zero the bundles can no longer be made, and you see that before a customer asks for one.
The hostel committee wants every delivery since last Diwali before its meeting. Can I give it?
Open the hostel's page. Every delivery since the last Diwali is there with its date and its lines. Send it on WhatsApp before the meeting, and nobody needs to look through the carton.
Potatoes and Kesar mangoes: what Gujarat's vegetable counters sell by the season
Banaskantha and Sabarkantha are Gujarat's largest potato-growing districts, followed by Aravalli, Gandhinagar, Patan and Mehsana. A vegetable shop in one of these districts is close to where the potato grows, and a shop far from them buys its potato from there.
The Talala market committee in Gir Somnath decided to start its mango auctions on 18 April, opening the harvest of Kesar mangoes in Junagadh and Gir Somnath districts. That is the date after which the first Kesar of the season can start moving from the auction yards to shops in the cities.