Selling Fruit in India

This trip has been wonderful in many ways. Something that has been very special has been learning about my father's work and seeing him in action. I have enjoyed meeting and getting to know a number of his customers, as well as visiting supermarkets and fruit markets to check out the food. In India the wholesale fruit market is unlike others. I was amazed by the number of full boxes of fruit that men would carry in large baskets on their heads. As one man was transporting fruit on his head to a truck, we stopped and asked him how many kilos he was carrying. At first he said 50 and then said this load seemed heavier, so probably 55. All of the fruit, which is taken from the market to trucks which take it to stores, restaurants, or street stands, is moved in large baskets on people's heads. In other words, there are no machines moving purchased fruit to markets, just human labor.
Another interesting part of the wholesale fruit market was the process of the transaction. So that buyers don't know how many boxes of fruit people are buying, the boxes of fruit for all of the negotiating takes place under a scarf or shirt. Both men have their hands under the piece of fabric and, like a sorority handshake, they use different fingers for the price. Both parties will go back and forth until one slaps both hands to say the deal is accepted. I was a little caught off guard with all of this at first. I had no idea that this was how the negotiations took place until my father explained it. Before he mentioned anything I became puzzled and quite shocked as I saw two men holding hands underneath ones shirt. I was wondering what these men were doing and was this accepted in India. Now I know they were just making a deal on some bananas... yellow ones from India.