MORE THAN JUST A BATIK


I was seated at the back seat of a taxi when I saw a group of ladies arguing at a fruit market. I was able to observe intently because of a traffic hold up we were in. One of them nodded as she pulled out her pulse and handed over a pink shilling note. At this moment the saleslady was beaming with a smile as she waved them off. One of them lifted a bunch of bananas and the others followed her to a waiting car a short distance infront of us.
What I didn't paint in this picture is that the sales lady at the stall began acting in a way that showed something was wrong. She was keenly inspecting a pink shilling note flipping it over and holding it up. Our taxi began to move on behind a line of other vehicles, one of which belonged to the ladies who had bought a bunch of bananas at the stall. Then suddenly the sales lady came with the note in her hand shouting that the money was a counterfeit. The line began moving faster and she was banging on the trunk but the car did not stop. As we passed her I imagined what she was going through. I however decided to ignore her predicament and sketch what at first appeared to be a good deal at the stall (the batik above).
In my work I tend to enjoy such contradictions in life- in this case, one transaction to have the power to bring a beaming smile to the lady and tears a few minutes later.

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