The constable reached out for Enumerator A’s ears. With the other hand he grabbed him by the shoulder and effortlessly toppled him on to the shop floor. Several of the paanwala’s precious containers rolled out, some even made it as far as the street. The paanwala picked up the bamboo chair and swung it at Enumerator A’s head. Enumerator A ducked, and the chair shattered against the pillar.

~

The paanwala at Mahim was less inclined to cooperate.

‘Tell him it’s an experiment. Later, when the survey is officially rolled out, he will not have to participate. Then the paanwalas will be required to pay for both breakfast and lunch for the enumerators,’ the officer told Enumerator B.

‘You don’t want to pay for that. Better let me work here this month while it’s still free for you,’ Enumerator B said to the paanwala at Mahim.

‘Can you vouch for that?’ the paanwala asked.

‘I swear on my mother.’

~

The third paanwala, at Fort, was devoted to de jure regulation. He insisted that the policy be typed on government paper with a seal.

‘If I come with a government authorization you’ll have to pay for the Enumerator’s breakfast and lunch. Are you okay with that?’

‘Let me talk to the committee,’ responded the paanwala.

‘No, don’t do that. You don’t want to get into trouble, do you?’

The officer asked Young to accompany him. ‘Can you please stand there and nod whenever I look at you?’

‘He works for the government,’ said the officer to the paanwala at Fort. Ten feet away, Young, who was shuffling through some papers, looked up and nodded.

‘How is it that this fellow at Fort is a member of a committee and not the others?’ Young asked the officer later.

‘Parsee influence. Sir, what do two Parsees do when they meet?’

‘What?’

‘Form a committee.’

As the weeks passed, two of the three enumerators kept falling asleep after lunch and inventing data to account for the paan-eating habits of the ten or so men they had missed during their siesta. It was a professional hazard. Nothing could be done about it.

~