March 29, 2013
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If you know of the 7-11 in Melawati
across the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara
branch, in the mornings an old man
occasionally sells nasi lemak from the
trunk of his car right outside the store.
This Friday morning I stopped to buy
one of his wares for the first time.
His lauk-pauk were modest in quantity,
but the portion of rice was generous.
"Pakcik, which would you recommend?"
"Paru sambal," he replied immediately.
"My wife makes the best in town."
I honestly wasn't a fan of having paru
team up with my morning nasi lemak,
but his vote of confidence convinced me.
"Did you only recently start working?"
I laughed. "No, it's been some years.
Don't be fooled by an immature face."
"A youthful face," he countered kindly.
"I've never had you buy from me before."
"Oh, yeah. I don't really have breakfast
in the mornings. Just some tea and
then I'm good to go for the day."
He tsk-tsked. "Well, that's not right."
Gesturing to the evidence of his wife's
labour of love displayed in between us
he said, "One should always start the
day with a lot of love, shouldn't they?"
Ain't that the truth.
Check out his nasi lemak if you're in
the area and happen to come across
this very pleasant man. To be honest,
my recommendation would be the
paru sambal too
Real good stuff!Chat him up, ask about his wife.
He will later send you off with a
beautiful smile while telling you,
"Gembiranya hati Pakcik!"
You will be able to tell that your
purchase means a lot to him.
