YOU probably woudn’t believe that almost every vegetable you find at Navua market is sold at $2 or $1 a bunch or heap. This is because, most families have backyard gardens and only a few people would buy from the market.

At the market, vendors are so friendly, cracking a few jokes among each other.

We caught up with Rajesh Kumar who has been a market vendor for 15 years and would know when someone was a first timer there.

Mr Kumar is the youngest of three siblings. “This is my second home and I’ve been here long enough to know the people of Navua,” Mr Kumar said in an interview this week.

He sells cabbages, rourou, bele, cucumbers, capscicum, ginger, dhania and carrots.

Most of what he sells is harvested from his garden while a few are from neighbouring farmers.

Mr Kumar now lives alone after his mother passed away last year.

“I make up to $150 a day and in most days I can make $100 depending on the number of customers I have,” he said.

Mr Kumar said he met many new people at the market and made many friends who updated him with current affairs.

“I have no regrets because I love this job. All I can say is that you don’t have to have a good job to have a decent life, if you live a simple life with food to eat on time and good people around you then that’s my definition of a good and happy life,” he conculded.