We went to the Uzhavar Sandhai or farmers market, early in the morning today. It’s our favourite place to buy fresh vegetables in Coimbatore. Farmers sell directly without any middlemen here. We have a few regular farmers from whom we get the veggies and then there is Elango, from whom we get Tender Coconut water.
Elango created a great first impression in 2022 when we discovered this market – he was fair to the point of not taking money for a tender coconut that didnt have enough water in it. Usually each tender coconut that he sells has nearly 400 to 500 ml of “elaneer” (water). We carry the Instacuppa tumblers and bring back enough tender coconut water for Amma and a second round for ourselves.
Do read about Elango in my blog from Dec 2022 – A Typical Day in Coimbatore !
Today after buying vegetables, we came around to Elango’s stall, but couldn’t see him. We asked his neighbour and were told that he was unwell. There was another tender coconut seller in the market today and we went to his stall with a lot of hesitation.
The first tender coconut he cut open gave less than 150 ml of water…. we should have stopped, but some invisible hand made us ask him to cut another one and we said, we wanted more water. The next one was better with 250 ml water but nowhere near the taste that we expected. The invisible karmic hand continued to push us into asking him to cut one more piece in the hope that we can at least take 150 ml elaneer for Amma. Well, he cut open the third one with nearly a fully grown coconut inside and hardly 50 ml of elaneer. We paid him and decided never to buy from him again.
It was certainly a karmic debt that we paid off !!! Hugely disappointed. We certainly didn’t expect this kind of “cheating” in Coimbatore. Elango has set a very high benchmark indeed… he would cut extra tender coconuts if he felt the amount of water was less. He would take Rs. 40 for at least 400 ml of elaneer, the quantity could be higher but never lower.
The seller today would have totally dented Coimbatore’s image as a friendly, very affectionate city if we had gone to him the first time in 2022 instead of Elango. The universe works in mysterious ways !! It’s our good fortune that we went to Elango’s stall and became regulars there.
We even remembered him during our Indonesia trip as we drank a MASSIVE tender coconut in Yogyakarta, just outside the Prambanan temple. That one had nearly a litre of water :).
All organisations that have products or services to sell have a lesson in this experience – ensure that your service and product quality is top notch, every single time. You never lose customers that way. Try and do a one time sale like today’s tender coconut seller and you turn away regulars !