One afternoon about two years ago, when I saw Pandian, a handicapped vegetable vendor, he was almost in tears. His small wooden booth, straddling the pavement was full of fresh, bright vegetables. Unsold vegetables. Until then, his shop used to be almost empty by afternoon.

On his two-wheeler, Pandian used to ride to the main market at Koyambedu early in the morning to buy vegetables at the wholesale rate. Again, in the afternoon, he would make a second trip and come back with the contraption overloaded with more fresh vegetables for his evening customers. Life was going on very well for Pandian as he was the first vegetable vendor in the colony. Naturally he had regular customers.

When the business was good, Pandian had taken a loan and started building a house for himself and his family. When his son got admission in a Polytechnic to study engineering, without any hesitation, he sent him there. He knew he could manage everything.

What poor Pandian did not anticipate was a huge, air conditioned super market opening its branch in the residential colony. They had vegetables packed in small polythene bags; with peeled small onions and garlic too. Soon it was a matter of prestige for many of his better-off customers to go to the super market than visit Pandian’s shop. As the colony consisted mainly of upper middle class and middle class residents, Pandian suddenly saw a drastic reduction in the number of his customers.

It was few days after the supermarket opened that I went to buy some vegetables from his shop.

“The supermarket has killed me. I have lost all my customers who used to come in their cars. They prefer going to the super market although I sell the freshest vegetables. Not a single vegetable in my shop is a day old still they don’t want to come here. What will I do? I have just built a house. My son is studying in college. How will I pay the interest on my loan? How will I pay his fees? I don’t know, I think I am doomed. My income is down by more than half!” he was nearly in tears.

He then made me promise that I would not buy a single vegetable from the super market!

A year ago, another mishap happened. His shop was razed and removed from the pavement by the corporation when the then government decided to beautify the streets of Chennai and clear all its pavements of encroachments. That would have been the last straw that broke his back.

Luckily for Pandian, the drive did not last. He successfully bribed the right people, and erected a temporary shop on the same spot, a ramshackle wooden structure propped upon four stacks of red bricks, within a week.

If you think Pandian has closed his shop by now, you are wrong. He is still there at the same place, selling vegetables, and yes, fresh vegetables. He pays the interest and instalment on his usurious loan but with great difficulty. His son is into his third year in college. The last couple of years have been extremely tough for him but he is a fighter.

Last week as we talked, he told me, ‘Do you know something, ma’am, quite a few of my old customers have come back to me because they found that the vegetables these air conditioned super markets sell are not fresh like what I sell. They found that in a one kilo packet of tomatoes, they get at least 2-3 rotten tomatoes while they pick and choose the best from me! I am glad that finally sense has come back to them,’ he gave me a winning smile.

I thought of Pandian today because a news item in today’s newspaper caught my attention; it must have caught the attention of all Chennaiites. It was the ultimatum Dr.Ramdas, the leader of the Pattali Makkal Kachi (PMK) has issued to the bosses of the Reliance retail outlet in southern Chennai. He has said, you better get out of Chennai in a month, or we will kick you out. It seems the party leader is concerned about people like Pandian who would lose their livelihood because of Wal-Mart, Reliance, Aditya Birla group and other such corporate giants.

Even when I fully support and empathise with people like Pandian, I would like to know if the party would stop all the retail chain stores in Chennai. If the party’s sympathies are only with vegetable vendors, it’s wrong. Because of super markets, many small corner shops are being closed in Chennai. Then, they should see that all super markets are closed in Chennai and that the city has only corner shops.

I have to also tell you about a happy girl called Geetha who works as a sales girl in one of these super markets. She has not passed school but she makes Rs.3500 every month. That’s only because she is smart and efficient. “If such shops had not come to Chennai, I would have been working like my elder sister in a leather or textile factory stitching from morning till evening to make less than Rs.1000 a month. I want more such stores here in Chennai so that we also can lead a better life,” she told me.

So, when a Reliance outlet or any such outlet in the city shuts shop, many uniformed girls like Geetha would lose their jobs. When people like Pandian get affected by the entry of a giant business house, Geetha’s family will lose a bread winner when the giant leaves.