Me and Pasar Malam

I confess. I'm a pasar malam addict. Wait, I'm a pasar addict. Anything to do with pasar, be it ending with malam, pagi, borong, tani, etc, I'm always excited to be one of the crowds that throng these places. I don't know why I'm like that or what attracts me to the pasar. I hate crowded places, but when it comes to pasar, it's an exception. Like they say, there's always an exception to the general rule (I learned that during law school). When I was studying, I spent more time at the pasar near my college (Victoria Market) than at the library!

I was introduced to the pasar at an early age. When I was four (or was it five?) Ayah always brought me along whenever he went to pasar. Ayah is not a scholar who teaches his children of ABC's and 123. He had never helped in any of his children's homeworks. Not that he's not clever. Far from it. In fact, my late Datuk always told me how brilliant Ayah was when he was schooling. Datuk wanted to send him to Al-Azhar to continue his studies but Ayah refused to go. Instead he started work, got married and have a family. Rather than teaching his children ABC's and 123, Ayah taught us many other things about life. One of those things were during our excursions to the pasar.

I pride myself in having the knowledge of choosing the freshest fish on the block from the variety of fish in the pasar. I know which ikan merah would have the most succulent of flesh for fish head curry, what ikan pari to choose from for grilling or to cook asam pedas with. I take pride in choosing the hottest chillies for sambal belacan, the best bendi (ladies fingers) for stir fry or for fish curry. I learned all these from Ayah. Even until now, whenever I go with Ayah to the pasar, he would be quizzing me on the name of fish, vegies, etc. I guess, it was his way of taking pride in the knowledge that he passed on.

Whenever I go to a pasar, I'll be spending hours there. I like to take in the sights, smell and sound of a pasar. I went to my weekly pasar malam yesterday. I was there for almost two hours. I bought some fresh oranges, green vegies, fish and some food for dinner. I've been going to the same pasar malam for the past two years. I've made friends with some of the vendors. It helps in getting the best price for the freshest produce. Sometimes I bought their goods, sometime I don't. But week in, week out, I'll be stopping by at their stalls, just to chat, catch up with their news, talk about everything under the sun. From their families to politics, economies, EPL (English Premier League) and whatever the flavour of the month is (next week, some will be talking about Altantuya's case now that it has resumed).

I was at the fruit stall to buy my usual dose of oranges, apples and grapes. The Fruit Uncle (FU) used to be selling his fruits from a motorcycle. Now he has progressed to having his own stall. He used to sell only oranges, sweet and seedless oranges. Now he sells apples, grapes, pears and the occassional local fruits. Chatted with him for awhile. He told me proudly that his 10-year old grandson is first in his class. His youngest daughter had just finished school and now looking for a job. I told him that perhaps I could help. He called on his daughter and asked her to explain to me what course she took in the university. She took up computer engineering. So, I told her that perhaps she could email me her resume and I'll forward it to my HR. FU smiled. I bought RM15 woth of his fruits and he gave me some mangoes. I told him he needn't to. After all, almost every week he would be giving me some extra oranges or apples. But he insisted. Extra weight to my half full trolley. Not that I'm complaining.

I stopped by at the vegetables vendor. He is just next to FU. Since I was late yesterday, not much choices left. I was about to move on when the Vegetable Uncle (VU) signalled to me to wait a second. From a box underneath his counter, he took out two bundles of spinach and gave them to me. The best of the lot, he said with a hearty laugh. VU started small as well. He used to sell his spinach and kangkung from a small table that didn't deserve to be called a stall. Now, he is a proud of owner of a stall. I took out my wallet to pay him for the two bundles of spinach. He declined. He said he was about to close up. If I didn't come by, he would have cooked the spinach himself. But since I was there, he just gave it to me. I thanked him profusely and he just gave me a hearty laugh and told me to bring CG next time. VU and his wife love CG. They love her curly hair.

My next stop was another vegetable vendor. Two bundles of spinach would not last for one week. AS (Abang Sayur) and his wife greeted me cheerily. I bought some chillies, cauliflower and kangkung. Not the freshest, but they'll do. I complained to AS about the freshness and he gave me some discounts. He said it is difficult now to get the best vegetables from the market, especially now that he has no workers. Hmm...

Then, I went for some dinner hunting. Bought some mee goreng. CG wanted some chicken wings. I bought half a dozen from the usual Pakcik. This Pakcik is ranggi. He doesn't have that many front teeth but still, he can dress up as stylo as a pasar malam vendor can be. Last week, he was wearing his sunglasses that look 2 decades outdated. I told him he looked like a pop yehyeh star. He laughed out loud and gave me an extra piece of chicken wing. Yesterday, he was wearing this ridiculous looking stetson! A Pasar Malam John Wayne!

You see, that was only my pasar malam excursion. If I were to go to the normal pasar, it would be half a day there!