The grocer

The grocer

They bought

Cereals

Pulses

Soaps

Detergents

Toothpaste

Oil

Ghee

Sugar

Tea

Coffee

Shampoo

————-

Malls

Shopping trolleys

Buying

On discounts

————-

Cannot fight

The behemoths

The discounts

They get

From manufacturers

They’re too large

————-

He goes too

To the mall

To buy

And sell

In his shop

He makes

Some money

That way

————

Then then came

Amazon

Flipkart

Bigbasket

DMart

————-

Sending

All

He has

In his shop

And more

To people’s houses

————-

Their prices

He can’t beat

—————

The manufacturers

They give them

Discounts

They’re burning money too

—————-

Amazon

To set up

The Pantry

—————

He keeps a watch

On the net

Buys

When things are cheap

To stock

In his shop

He makes some money

This way

—————-

Some customers

Do remain

——————

The poor

They don’t go

To the malls

Or shop

Online

—————

So also the old

They are loyal

They still buy

From him

—————-

His stock

Has now changed

There’s a school nearby

He’s added

Art paper

Chart paper

Decorations

Ribbons

Note books

Graph books

Drawing books

Single line

Double line

Big square lined

Small square lined

And other stationary

Tiny candies

Sold by the rupee

For the children

—————

Packets of junk

Aerated drinks

Cheap juices

In terra packs

Also

For the children

—————

Odd items

People ask for

Batteries

When their’s run out

Some soaps

Or Shampoos

They’ve forgotten to order

—————-

Those little sachets

Of shampoo

Or detergent

Tiny bottles of oil

For when

They’re travelling

—————-

His fridge

Stocked

With beverages

Ice cream

Butter

Yoghurt

They sell well

—————

Mostly

Impulsive buying

Not planned

—————-

He keeps

A tiny

Little book

He scribbled down

What his customers

Ask for

—————

Tries to stock

That way

He can make

A little money

——————

The money

Is now little

Gone are the days

He used to supply

A hundred houses

With their monthly

Grocery

—————-

Those days he knows

They won’t come back

—————-

Fruits and vegetable

Fish and meat

People mostly buy

From the

Small vendors

—————

They don’t yet trust

The quality

Online

The prices too

They find high

—————

But that too

Is changing

That lady

Was talking to another

When they were

In his shop

How organic

Fruits

And vegetables

Also meat

And fish

Can be bought

Online

—————

He still has

Wheat

Rice

Sugar

And other

Groceries

In small quantities

For the poor

The old

And the rich

Young people

When they fall short

—————-

Also hidden

Are cigarettes

And chewing paste

Full of nicotine

And other

Cancerous stuff

—————

It’s illegal

To sell

When you’re

Near a school

—————

But he has

To make his money

—————

Besides

He’s not responsible

If the child

Wants to smoke

It’s up to

the teachers

The school

The parents

—————

He has

To survive

His family feed

They go to the malls

They buy online

His children

It’s expensive

He has to earn

To keep up

With the times

—————

To make sure

His children

—————-

Don’t end up

As grocers

Redundant

Like him

—————

His sons

They’re studying

To be engineers

To work in IT

To support

Online

Transactions

—————-

Of the new age

Grocers

——————-