The Plastic Girl

I finish my cigarette, dispose the butt and the plastic teacup in the dustbin next to the tea shop and walk away. I look around to find a few street hawkers - one of them selling watermelons, another selling coconut. But one particular shop draws me towards it.

The shop is a piece of tarpaulin spread on a wide footpath with plastic and electronic items placed on it. It’s got optical fiber lamps, alarm clocks, artificial flowers and small decorative table lamps. One optical fiber lamp has a red heart as its base with the words ‘I love you’ written in white colored italics. There’s a singing parrot alarm clock with the parrot figures looking rather lifelike. 

And then there is the girl. She is about four or five, wearing a frock sitting next to the tarpaulin, swaying to some song she’s probably singing in her head. It’s a purple frock with a beige collar and little golden flower patterns that shine during the dark, I’m sure. I almost suspect that she’s the sole manager of the shop while I notice a middle aged man leaning to an electrical grid box, his eyes fixed on the road looking out for potential customers. The girl is bored and is leaning on a large empty suitcase placed next to the shop. She’s restlessly looking around for something interesting and still making hand gestures. It’s a rhyme from school or an item number, I think. Why not? A school girl eating ice cream, along with her mother, goes past the shop glancing over the wide array of items. An old man who is negotiating a price with the owner is convinced after thorough testing of the plastic item. He pays the cash and walks away with a brand new table lamp. The owner counts the cash and places it in his wallet and watches the little girl.

The plastic girl picks up her favourite toy and looks at the owner. My mind wonders what it
is about little children being placed as sellers in a lot of shops in India tea shops, fruit
stalls, candy stores and now even plastic shops. Maybe it is the element of sympathy that
would persuade people to stop and look. Consider making the purchase.
She probably wants to get back to her books now.