Occupation: Corn vendor, Koramangala
My name is Edwin. I don’t have a surname. Do you have a paper and pen?...Here, let me write my name. ( In shaky handwriting, yet with confidence, he writes his name in bold ). That’s all I know of writing.
You see, I never went to school. I learnt how to write my name from my friend. I know how to speak English and Tamil. Kannada is my mother tongue. No, I don’t know Hindi. At age 38, I doubt I would want to learn anything at school.
I have been a corn-on-the-cob vendor for only two months. In fact, I have been in Koramangala only for that long. My connection with the city began quite recently, when I used to park my vehicle at MG Road and explore the place.
When I was 15-years-old, I began working at a dog biscuit packing factory. I got a bit bored. I wasn’t earning much. A friend of mine told me to try my hand at this. This cart is owned by someone else. We are a group of people who work for him. He pays each of us about Rs. 300 every day. I am not too fond of this job. I plan to go back to working in a factory, making packets. I hardly get time to spend at home. I live in Adugodi, with my elder sister.
We get corn on cobs from Kengeri. As it is a distance from here, I spend two days there to get them. And then over the week I sell them. On a good day, this business fetches Rs. 400 , on a bad day, perhaps only about Rs. 150. I get more customers during the winter season, and less customers during the summer season. It all depends, you know. My day starts at noon. I wrap up by 9.30 pm. I have made some friends here. There is a fruit vendor on the other side of the pavement with whom I good friends. I bond quite well with some of my regular customers.
I love animals. Cats, in particular. In fact, when I see any, I feed them. I haven’t noticed how much Bengaluru has changed in the last 15 years I have been here. Yes, okay maybe the obvious changes are more buildings, more people, more traffic and a little bit of weather change. But I put my head to work, so I don’t have much of an opinion about development and all that. I work to earn.
I am a devout Christian. I go to St. Thomas Church every Saturday and Thursday, regularly.
