Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Lain padang lain belalang

When we meet people we always compare our way of life. Some of us feel our way is better than the others.That is why when people got married they need time to adjust to each others way. Many parents wouldn't agree if their children want to marry foreigners or people from other religions ,because they think that it is difficult to adapt to their way. Many will try to convince the other to follow their way. Even people from the same country find it hard to adapt to each others way of life.

One of my colleages in Kedah, Cikgu Halim,a nice and hard working guy told me
about his own experience. He got some friends in Kota Bharu. Once he and his family went to KB and was invited for dinner.He said KB people are very friendly and lavish when entertaining friends. They prepared a lot of lauk pauk,but to his dismay he couldn't quite enjoy the food because it is a little bit too sweet for him. After staying for three days,he felt as if he hadn't eaten anything. So, on the way back to Alor Setar he found this mamak stall, so he stopped to have his lunch.They missed the curry so much like they had been starving for a week. To him there is no dish that is as tasty as fish or chicken curry!

After sometimes his friend and family came to visit him in Alor Setar. He went to market to buy kepala ikan to cook curry and others to serve them for lunch. To him kari kepala ikan is the most respectful dish to serve his guests. When his friends ate he noticed that they ( like him before ) couldn't enjoy the food as much maybe because it has got Indian taste and the other dish was too hot. So he thought they'll do the same as him that is look for Kelantanese stall on the way back home!

Our Mak Lang was from Kedah but stayed in KB ever since she got married. She maintained the Kedah speak, cooked Kedah food and all the Kedah ways of doing things but she never criticised anything about Kelantan. Even though she and her husband were Kedahan, but their children were born in KB,live like orang Kota Bharu,speak like orang KB and eat ( outside food ) like orang KB. The problem of different field, different grasshopper came out when her daughter got married to a Negeri Sembilan chap.

During one of the visits she made to her tok besan's house in NS, her son in-law wanted to eat udang galah ,so he bought some at the market. His mother being orang NS cooked the udang galah the way they used to eat ie masak lemak cili api ( I'm sure the son loved them very much ). But, to my Mak Lang's amazement..Whaaat...? Udang galah masak lemak? Pity my son in-law, how can he enjoyed that flat food and it spoilt the taste of real udang ( that's how she narrated to me ). So when they went back to KL she bought equally big (if not bigger )udang galah and she made curry (gulai )for her son in-law . Only then she was satisfied ---that's how you eat the udang galah!

With that, I rest my case!

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