As this piece is being written, a woman is on the television promoting her latest tudung or headscarves fashion for Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Her large, bulging eyes and forehead are very intimidating. A mannequin head on the table, used to demonstrate how the tudung should be worn, looked like the Malay folklore ghoul penanggal.
I'm not sure if the approach was effective to get the audience to buy or learn more about fashion. If it wasn't, perhaps the supposed tudung expert should be less unnerving to potential clients.
This year's Ramadan was not so much about the usual great shopping mall sales announcements, at least in Johor.
Previously, the city was dotted with billboards and banners of every shopping mall having a Hari Raya sale.
The Pandan City market is especially crowded and rowdy this time of the year. It is pretty haphazard, with thousands of people thronging the centre during the last two weeks of Ramadan every year.
There couldn't possibly be adequate parking space for all, and most have resorted to double-parking, triple-parking or even quadruple-parking (yes, I made that one up as I do not know how to describe such a situation otherwise) causing bottlenecks and massive traffic jams.
Many tried and failed to avoid Pandan City, being unable to stay away from the musty and dank market where hawker food, pirated DVDs and clothing could be found under one roof.
Having said that, I can assure you many of our friends from the island republic were at their happiest munching on cheap food, washing their cars and of course, grabbing the DVDs, there.
Some who belong to the rather classier segment of society but long to get in touch with the ghetto lifestyle would end up scurrying home for a three-hour bath following a 30-minute visit to Pandan City.
I saw a barber there sometime last week, sporting a grey, bristly mullet which resembled a bunch of dried vines draping rather magnificently pass his shoulders, narrowly tipping at his waist belt.
It looked like he had a horse tail growing from the back of his head. There was a spine-chilling moment when the man suddenly turned and caught me staring at his ghastly do.
One cannot understand how the mullet can still be regarded as an acceptable hairstyle -- even today and even in Pandan City, which seems to be seeing a revival of the trend.
Even as I digress, an increase in the number of boys with mullets in Johor Baru may have already occurred.
If you take a look at Plaza Angsana, which some of my friends have dubbed a "Malay enclave", many Malays seem to favour the shopping mall as the place to be during the festive season.
Singaporean Malays usually make up the bulk of the visitors to this truly unique mall; where else you can find rows of a variety of Raya cookies being sold at an affordable price?
Parking is an issue here, but if you don't mind leaving your ride blistering in the sun and actually paying for the privilege, you would love Plaza Angsana this time of the year.
There would be people everywhere, trying to get the best bargain from traders at just about every corner of the mall to justify their struggle to park their vehicles.
People are not just buying the usual baju Melayu and baju kurung for baju raya. Nowadays, there are such things as "handphone raya" and "camera raya". So people usually end up spending more than they should.
So that is it then. Since it is Hari Raya, this is just a friendly reminder to everyone that hustle and bustle during shopping is common at this time of the year. Nothing to be kiasu about yeah?
And I just realised I have actually talked more about Pandan City in this piece.
Oh well, perhaps I am still a little traumatised by the barber.
Selamat Hari Raya!
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