re:The upshot of this was that I eked my meagre pocket-money in purchases of bananas from the vendors who hung around the fences encircling the camp. On one tragic occasion, though, there were no kelawallas around.

taken just from context, and from a 'vague' knowledge, of 'wallas' its clear to me, kelawallas are small, itinerent fruit and vegetable vendors..

Merchant and Ivory had the film (long ago!) 'Shakespear wallas', about itinerent actors (english ex-pats,) who went from town to town, putting on performances of shakespear, and we've in the past discussed tiffins, (and the walla's who vend tiffins of food a the RR stations, )

Walla has come to mean in my mind, a term for a guy (gal) who is a small, itinerent vendor..

we know what a grill man is, (and how he/she differs from a chef), we know who the local 'handyman' is, when we need a window repaired, or the grindstone man.. and in the man in these descriptions isn't alwasy a man... its a person.

but i think (and again, this is just from limited exposure to the word,) wallas are usually selling something, (shakespear, or tiffins, or fruits and vegetables...)so you wouldn't have a short order (cook) walla. (but you might have a 'hotdogman/hotdogwalla--only i think they would be selling samosas, or something similar.)

so maahey, and shanks, how close am i to the meaning of walla(s)-(is the S part of the word or plural?)

PS, from first post--Preserved ginger..mmm, i love it.. pickled and thin sliced (Japanese style) or candied, in chewy big chunks... (as i think they would have had it...)



my other obsession