The Diwali bonanza!

You paid how much for this dhania patta?" I screamed when I saw those limp sprigs of coriander on the kitchen counter.

- K.C. VERMA

“Well, whether you like it or not, coriander is ₹300 a kilo. These days you don’t get it for free when you buy vegetables,” said the missus, defiantly.

“No one buys dhania patta! Free dhania and a fistful of chillies are your birthright as a veggie’s customer! That vegetable vendor—what's his name— Bansidhar? He should be jailed for daylight robbery,” I declared.

“It is not Bansidhar's fault. That crook Trump has raised tariffs. There has been too much rain this year. The Bihar elections are coming. There was an earthquake in Afghanistan. That's why the price of dhania has shot up!”

“That's utter nonsense! You'll believe any crap the Bansidhar fellow tells you. From now on, I will go to buy vegetables,” I said.

The following day, I felt the way Rip Van Winkle would have felt if he had woken up after 20 years in the middle of the sabzi mandi. The price of onions was sky high, and I wondered which Maratha strongman was manipulating stocks in Lasalgaon. The potatoes were expensive enough to have been directly imported from Idaho. And I could have bought two bottles of Hercules in the good old days for the amount Bansidhar was demanding for a kilo of tomatoes.

I discovered that Bansidhar was not the only one who had jacked up prices. Apparently, the whole