Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Simple joy in the Hawker Centre

I visited my Mum and Grandmother at the hawker centre last friday afternoon just to have a short chat with Granny and to have a free plate of Hokkien Mee at their stall.

As I was eating, the Yong Tau Foo stall owner came over and complain that an old auntie whom many of the stall owners always gave her a dollar or two was depositing a stack of $2 notes into POSB. She was so furious because that Auntie always beg for $2 with them saying that she do not have money to eat and she was caught red-handed when she was queueing to deposit her stack of $2 notes. (Just to prove that sometimes, people begging might not be really begging for survival, they actually have more money than we probably thought)

As we are still talking about it, another Weird Auntie came begging for money with the customers near our stall. One of them eventually gave $2 and that weird auntie bought a plate of Rojak. The weird auntie sat and did not eat the rojak. She only put the rojak into her mouth and suck each item dry before spitting it back into the plate. She did not eat anything at all and left after sucking all the rojak gravy. The plate of rojak looks as if it was not eaten but without the Rojak Gravy.

Shortly after she left, another weird uncle whom we know like to scavage for left-over food came near the rojak table and shouted if the plate of rojak belongs to anyone. The Hawker centre aunties shouted back and told him that he can take it if he don't mind that there was no gravy.

Oh. I don't know whether to laugh over it or not. The Uncle really eat that plate of rojak and was so happy about it. The images of that Auntie spitting the rojak was still fresh in my mind. It was really so gross...

Anyway, the weird auntie was happy to have the Rojak gravy, the weird uncle was happy with the rojak without gravy, the stallowners have a good laugh and I was also happy to see all of them happy... That simple $2 note made so many of us happy... Sometimes happiness can be so simple. Its the people around you that can really make you laugh.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

My question will be, why is this funny? Or makes a person happy?

Why is it that no one told the uncle that the gravy was sucked dry by the auntie and what was left was in her mouth before? They told him that he can have it if he doesn't mind not having the gravy, that is literally like inviting him to eat since he was not likely to mind BUT why didn't they at least inform him of what happened before?

The uncle may have the habit of eating left over food but a plate of half-eaten chicken rice is not the same as food being spat out. Perhaps even if you had told him that it was spat out, he would STILL eat the food. But that does not change the fact that you (or the aunties) should have told him and let him decide if he wants to eat it. If he still wanted to after you have told him, then fine, at least you have let him know.

To go around eating left over food means that he is either low in IQ or very poor, I won't find any joy when I witness such a scene.

If anything, the stall owners have a twisted and even cruel sense of humour in this instance.

jdm said...

i don't find it funny and joyful.
i find it pathetic.
the hawker owners should really have told the poor weird uncle about that plate of rojak. jeapordizing a poor uncle's health over $2? i don't find that funny.

Khiat Han Hwee Adrian said...

Ya. True also. Not supposed to be a happy thing but I think they probably just see a lot of weird people around and its like part of their live to see these people. I pretty sure the hawker uncles or aunties are not bad people. Its just that none of us think so much at that point of time.

Anonymous said...

Wah lau! You all very bad. Never tell that weird uncle. But since everyone happy at the end of the day, just be it lar. Sometimes the more you know, the more you will never be satisfied with life.

Anonymous said...

None of you think so much at that moment or all of you were mean towards certain people?

If it was a handicap person, you will probably say something but since you guys see this old man as a weirdo and want a laugh, you didn't say anything.

It's sad that people can be so double standard.

My family will not dare buy things from that hawker centre cos now I dunno when the hawkers will 'add ingredients' for a laugh since they can knowingly not tell the uncle the story behind the rojak and watch him eat.

Anonymous said...

This is a dangerous situation. I can draw a parallel here to the financial world. The auntie who spat out the rojak after sucking the juices can be seen as the management of insurance companies. The stall holders who kept quiet can be seen as the financial regulators. Adrian can be seen as himself, the knowlegeable by stander. The ones who egg the uncle on to eat the tainted rojak can be seen as the insurance agents. Nobody spoke up because nobody was thinking at the moment? No, they were all thinking about themselves and enjoy the situation at the expense of the uncle.

Seek not yourself to please. Why enjoy another's loss of ease in order to build a hell in heaven in spite? We should all work towards building a heaven in hell's despair. It takes little effort to tell the uncle, but by not doing so, it surfaces the latent feelings we have. No wonder the world is topsy turvy now.

Anonymous said...

Anon September 26, 2009 11:06 AM,
I absolutely agree with your observation and analogy. This is the scenario of the financial industry.
The devil is the encourager because he benefits the most.
Who is the encourager, here in the rojak saga?
What we need today is the whistle blower.Although it is MAS's requirement we haven't heard of any from the insurance industry . Maybe, not yet.