THE ORIGINAL- ASAM PEDAS

Papa called Squire Bobby, he answered in a hurried voice, papa asked whether he wanted to go for breakfast at Parit Jawa, The Squire said, he, will call back as he had to attend to an emergency. An elderly neighbor had fallen down at her home and he had to be sure the ambulance had arrived and she was already on her way to the hospital before he can go anywhere, he promised to call back in about twenty minutes time. Papa resumed his search for the elusive multi point socket at ten past eight in the morning. Upon turning to the left and crossing a main street, further up, he found a small shop sharing half a lot with the other half still not opened yet. To his amazement, the shop was an electrical store and the multi socket- was neatly, arranged, inside a glass shelf with the shopkeeper: an elderly Chinese man standing beside it. Papa tried to insert the slanted albeit flattened metal road protruding from the plug that in turn was attached to the re charger cable of his two little boys’ ‘Game boy’ thingies, to the multi socket. Lo and behold- it fits.
Papa could see Squire Bobby’s, chunky Toyota Hilux, about one hundred meters ahead, making a turning into Jalan Sisi. He, waved at the Squire, Bobby stopped his truck right beside papa, of whom, was waiting near the intersection between Jalan Sisi and Jalan Ali. Having climbed into the front passenger seat, the two, sawit men proceeded to Parit Jawa Via Jalan Suleiman- straight on, through the archaically exclaimed, Jalan Darat.
The drive to Parit Jawa was quiet and rather uneventful, there were not that many cars on the road and only a few trucks, driving past, Compared to K.L, the, traffic here, was, literally, heaven sent. Added to the balmy morning, the circumstances, was, in a peculiar way, truly ‘serene’, if only a better word be appropriate. Papa, verily loved, this part of Johore, his late father’s birthplace and dominion, whence the oldman, was in his ‘impressionable’ years. There was, whenever papa’s in Muar, that certain ambience, an ‘atmosphere’ that verily tugged at the heartstrings, but not a ‘foreboding’ presentiment, yet ‘snug and homely’, as if, knowing that one is veritably ‘safe’ here, compared to any other ‘locales’. Papa would really like to ‘settle’ here, perhaps, in the not too distant future, Insyaallah, however, for the time being, K.L is still his home, having stayed there for more than 30 years.
Bobby parked his pick-up in front of an ‘up market’ kopitiam, an appropriately named, The Q1, establishment, apparently the ‘White Coffee’ trend had even caught up in little, Parit Jawa town. The elusive ‘Asam Pedas stall was only a few meters away, situated inside an authentic, old style, kopitiam- The Real McCoy. The tables were all full except for one, papa and Bobby, rushed to it with papa immediately sitting on a chair beside it, there was a customer at the table but he was just about to leave- having paid the bill. Bobby set about ordering what was best, papa left it entirely to him as this was his first time there. Bobby really liked to ‘breakfast’ here, driving down every two or three days, a ten or so minutes drive, from his house, in Muar. All, the more, so, whence, the stall operator called him ‘Abang’ the moment, he saw ‘The Squire’.
Bobby scooped four cuts of ‘Ikan Pari’ or skate, two, fried Ikan Cencaru- a Trevalli like fish and ordered two plates of ‘egg ommelettes’. There really were not that many dishes available, for the ‘Asam Pedas’ was good enough on its own, thenceforth to order that additional ‘plate of rice’ would not be recommended. Just, eat more of, the fish, they are fresh, most of the times, recently caught and ‘obtained’ straight from the fishing boats, ‘docked’ at the jetty nearby. That, was the thing, that make these asam pedas fishes, succulent, much tasty and sweet, they were ‘genuinely fresh’, coupled also, with, the extra thick ‘asam gravy and the quintessential albeit a bit more than required ‘pedas’ or ‘Spicy ness’ – integral component. Papa ordered two cuts of the ‘skate’ asam pedas for ‘tapau’or takeaway, with, Bobby, joining immediately after, ordering the same, also.