‘I just don’t have that kind of budget’

Narayan Kundalik Hajare understands the word budget because he does not have a very high one.

“Aapla tevdha budgetch nahi [I just don’t have that kind of budget]!” in just four words, Narayan kaka deflates the hype around the new regime of tax-free income upto Rs. 12 lakhs.

The question about the Union Budget does get this 65-year-old farmer and a fruit seller thinking hard. He answers with full conviction. “I have heard nothing about this thing. Never in all these years.”

Narayan kaka, has no way of knowing it. “I don’t have a mobile phone. And there is no TV in the house.” A friend has gifted him a radio just a few days back. But the public broadcasting service is yet to inform him about this annual event. “Amcha adani manasacha kay sambandh, tumhich sanga [Do unlettered people like us have any connection]?” he asks. The words, ‘Kisan Credit Card’ or the ‘increased loan limit’ for these cards is foreign to Narayan Hajare.

Narayan kaka sells all kinds of seasonal fruit on his wooden handcart. “This is the last batch of guavas. From next week, you will get grapes and then mangoes.” A resident of dhakata Tuljapur (literally meaning the ‘younger sibling’) of Tuljapur town in Dharashiv (formerly Osmanabad) district, kaka has been selling fruit for more than three decades. A good day will get him Rs. 300-400 after selling his entire batch of 25-30 kilos of fruit and spending 8-10 hours on the road.

But Narayan Hajare does understand a thing or two beyond budgets. “Never bother about money. Just buy what you want. You can always pay me later,” he assures me and leaves for the day.