From Madras to Great Wall

I bought kuih lopes/loopis or Lopez last week during breakfast as a supplement or snack before lunch, but those kuih ended up in the dustbin..kiasu betul masa nak beli..sometimes it's not the stomach but the desire or maybe the feeling that made us like that.



Back when we were in primary school, there used to be mamak with kandar selling kuih made by nearby mak cik- mak cik, there were wide variety from tepung talam (the one with white creamy and a bit salty top with brown and sweet bottom), abok-abok (round and flat but fluffy with sweet coconut stuffing plus small particles on the outer layer- maybe thats how the name was created), kuih sagu ( commonly in red with grated coconut topping, also fluffy..comes in different shape depends on the mak cik), sagon (ahhh...who doesn't loves this as a kid, I'm not sure about the ingredient, but this sweet things are wrapped in newspaper cone), and masalode (Indian kuih..)....



This mamak are all from India and make a living by selling kuih on this portable kandar, it is round with cone like lid, they usually start walking around around tea time. Most of them were wearing white shirt and white pelikat, some of them have a head scarf or something..nearby our house, there were rows of room on the ground floor of a big house where those mamak stayed. It was dark and narrow, just a small room fit for one person with timber bench as bed, and no luxury at all, those were basic, the floor were still hard clay and there was only one small window. One common bathroom were shared by them, not far from the land lord's house.

These were mamak kuih with kandar, another one is what we used to called 'keling botol'..no offense ya..because they were buying and selling used bottles, the modes operandi are the same, using a kandar but with basket...they will yelled...'botol ! botol...!! with thick Indian accent...(now we have 'old news paper..'). Some women used to scared their naughty children by saying that keling botol will come and get them if they don't behave... :-)

Another type is mamak who run a grocery shop, at our place names like Musa and Mohamed were famous, Mohamed's shop is much nearer to my house, whereby Musa's is not that far but just across the road, we used to go to Musa's not to buy toyu or chikedes but to get stamps from India. At that time, whoever have an oversea stamp could show off a little bit..! :-)
Time passed by, Musa and Mohamed are no longer here in Malaysia, I've heard that they went back to India...the shops are still standing with new operator..it looks almost the same, but something is missing... One thing that reminds me of Mohamed's shop is Popinjay soap, whoever were born in the 70's or before might remember this...

The only street player that remained until now is Maknya Ais (Nyonya selling cold drinks on push cart), she have been selling sarsi and oren bancuh since I was in primary school, no assistant..She will start her business in front of Sekolah Lelaki Sbg Perak and by evening she will be at a junction not far from her house which is infront of Madrasah heading to Tongkang Yard. Maknya's family are originated from China, they are Hokkien but quiet fluent in Malay..even his father were called Awang by old folks here. Their house are different from Malay house, there are influence of Chinese architecture with painted red floor and they have proper perimeter drain compared to other houses nearby.

These are the essence of a place, it doesn't have to be perfect..they are the street performer in their own way....