It’S Ramadan and Syawal will be with us in less than three short weeks. Ramadan and Syawal remind us of food, glorious food. About a
week ago, I met Ali, a childhood friend.
Ali taught me ketupat weaving. He’s very skilful and fast.
Many years ago, Ali would sell ketupat a couple of days before Hari Raya. Ali’s ketupat weaving teacher was an Indian lady.
Yes, an Indian lady. Not a Malay lady.
Ali and I had our childhood in the Bangsar Tenaga Nasional Bhd staff quarters, where a multi-racial and multi-cultural environment thrived.
Just before Hari Raya, the womenfolk would gather in the courtyard and start making kueh raya in a small gotong royong way. They would make kueh for Raya and Deepavali. This was in the early 60s, mind you, where
neighbours knew each other well and close.
As children, we would often be called to help gather firewood and run errands, such as going to the shop to buy flour, cooking oil and whatever else.
One day, the ladies were ketupat weaving. Ali sat down with them and was coached by Auntie Meena to weave ketupat satay. There are basically two types of ketupat — ketupat bawang and ketupat satay.
To find a non-Malay lady
weaving ketupat was so rare
in those days. But Auntie Meena was one special woman who
later even learned to cook kuah satay!
Ali picked up the skill and used it to earn an extra income for his family’s Hari Raya.
This is the beauty of this
country. We are fast losing
this sense of togetherness in
a neighbourhood.
Today, we are so absorbed in our personal lives that we hardly know our neighbours. Let’s get to know our neighbours all over again.
There may be a skill or two we may pick up, just like Ali.
The writer is a former NST group editor. His first column appeared on Aug 27, 1995, as ‘Kurang Manis’