This word pasar malam always brings little smile to me. The first time I heard this, was from one of my husband's collegue's wife whom I had gone to visit in KL. It was evening time and she suddenly said Hum pasarmalam karenge. I did not understand what she was wanting to do. I said fine. Then she took me to an evening bazaar, the puzzled me got an answer from my hubby later that pasar malam is nothing but an evening market.(pasar is bazar in malay and malam is evening).
Over the years I have learnt to appreciate and like the 'pasar malam' concept and I don't do a pasar malam but I do shop in this market. This is an evening market which is once a week affair, in different locations. Each location has a specific pasar malam day rather evening. The shops are temporary, set in a street (quite busy streets) on the platforms, with battery operated proper lights and tents like shops. You can get flowers, vegetables, fruits, meat and fish and any other non vegetarian items, cooked foods, both veg and non veg, ready made dresses, toys, utensils, knick knacks and what not. The shopkeepers bring their wares in vans and some times sell them from their van also. Each slot is earmarked and numbered the shop keepers pay money to the majlis or the corporation/municipality. Once the market is closed in the night around 10.30/ 11 p.m., the majlis cleans the whole area and the next morning there won't be any trace of the wares or kachadas generated by the shops and the street will be as usual busy buzzing with traffic . The beauty is even while the market is going on cars will be moving in the streets in a snail's pace.
The vegetables and fruits which I buy every week from the pasar malam is fresh and cheap compared to any other shops or super markets, which sell them. We get many times special vegetables which you don't see in the normal markets.
The concept of old santhai or shanty has been modified for the modern day needs and it is done week after week with perfect professionalism where people in mercedes come and buy the things, the place is left as clean as it was before, after the market is over.
We normally buy our urgent needs from our local pasar pagi that is weekly morning market from near by morning sunday market and for our special items, we go quite a distance once a week for our purchase.
This is indeed one of the unique things in malaysia.
1 comment:
i have a beautiful photo taken in the 'pasar malam' near your house. I also remember the great admiration you had for their organising capability and penchant for cleanliness.
I also remember the informal shandy that i used to visit with my friend vijaya in Ajmer. Vegetables used to be really fresh, though not tastefully decorated or arranged. The vendors used to be really friendly;they used to offer us tea if they are drinking tea when we go to their shops!
Vegetables used to be priced really cheap and my friend used to make a hard bargain even with those rock bottom prices.
At the end of lots of hops and steps and jumps between mounds of veggies, used to look forward to the fresh ginger and lime sugar cane juice.Delicious it used to be.
Remember shandys in Belgaum where our uncle used to live and we had gone there for vacation. Other than vegetables, huge blocks of jaggery used to be sold and we used to be wide eyed at the scale of operation.If we miss a shandy on saturday, then it was a great catastrophe as some goodies will not be available in regular corner store!A typical milk sweet called 'kundah' used to be made and sold on the spot. Needless to add we were avid customers as we did not have to mind the calories and weight those days.
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