This morning, I headed to the Pulau Tikus Market in Penang.
I heard some ang mo who was carrying her Tesco cool bag in one arm and a re-useable shopping bag in another, say to the stall owner “How are you?” before paying for her goods.
What’s this? “How are you?” I know it’s polite, civilised and all, but…
I want the rude uncle and aunty serving me at the stall. I don’t want civility. I want them barking at me in a language I can’t quite get, that I have to guess at. I want there to be mystery. To have veggies and fish that I don’t quite know the terms of, and then to be rudely educated, if they bother. To be told just how much of this and that I need for a party of say… 3. To be told how best to eat that thing, how to best select it. To be told just how good the deal is (usually not), and how fortunate that this and that is rarely available in the markets (sometimes true). To blush from one’s own stupidity. To just point, helplessly say okay to anything and pay up.
Keep the vacuous how-are-you’s at the supermarket, please. Those who toss it around like hellos don’t really want to hear the real response.
Let’s keep the real wet market, the real pasar experience!