A public backstage: The pleasures and possibilities of roadside shop talk in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

In contrast to talk in more central parts of the city, and even in domestic space, interactions surrounding roadside grocery shops in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu entail a body of possible overhearers that is both limited and indefinite. Drawing on conversations recorded in roadside shops, I describe interactions in which the characterization of these spaces as principally concerned with routine provisioning allowed responsibility for participation in potentially disreputable talk to be plausibly denied. I suggest that petty traders seek to classify interactions surrounding shops as unremarkable because doing so supports the validity of commercial transactions. At the same time, customers exploit talk in grocery shops, and similar provisioning spaces, as a means by which to engage with a public while remaining “backstage”.