why wy?

I don't know why I've never really "hung out" in little india, but I did last night and it was buzzing, even midweek. Everyone was shopping, eating, bargaining, crossing roads with wild abandon.

7pm: First stop a general provisions shop where mum proceeds to scold the man for selling her the wrong henna powder. I walk out and linger among the bindis to avoid embarrassment by association.

7.15pm: Dinner at a vegetarian restaurant in upper dickson road. It was an all you can eat for $6.90, but hats off to anyone who can manage more than two rounds. It has the best commercial bubur hitam i've eaten, with little bits of sago, even mum agreed. And I'm a bubur hitam snob, because mum's version (family secret) is the best in the universe.

7.45pm: We are curious and stop by at an ice cream parlour next door that sells only kulfi - which is a north indian ice cream with milk, pistachios and spices like cardamon. The durian kulfi was ammaaaazzzing. Better than Hagan Daaz and ben and jerry's (except cherry garcia). And wednesday nights was one for one, so we had another on the house. It is always a bit of a shock to see mum eat ice cream (and ask for seconds) because she is so anti-dairy, but it was her birthday.

8pm: We walk past more food places that still smell heavenly, despite being stuffed to the gills. Marked for next visit.

8.15pm: Mustafa's is an old-style department store, they believe you should be able to buy everything under one roof. So, there's gold, money changers, electronics, sewing machine parts, a supermarket, clothes, a pharmacy and goodness knows what else. It's a building that looks a lot smaller on the outside but goes on forever. AND it's open 24 hours.
It's narrow, crowded but just fascinating to see the rows and rows of shampoo, watches, dahl etc etc on display. And it's the only place where security puts plastic ties on your bag to deter shoplifting. I bought a swatch-lookalike casio, with many many many functions, although the one I will use the most is probably the ILLUMINATOR!!!

9.45pm: After a couple of phone calls, I finally locate mum (the place is that big). We decide to call it a night and walk past some not-so-sleazy KTV bars to get a taxi. All around us people are still shopping, eating, bargaining, crossing roads with wild abandon.