"Before my marriage to my ex-wife, Irna, she and her then-husband, Rafi, were running a canteen foodstall in a primary school in the North of Singapore, selling noodles and light snacks.
She once told me how in the beginning, business was not good for them, as another Malay stall selling rice and side dishes were more popular with the students and teachers. However, within one year, Irna and Rafi managed to turned the situation around, as their Mee Rebus and Mee Soto became their topselling dish, popular amongst the students and teachers alike.
After 7 years in the canteen food business, Irna and Rafi's marriage hit the rocks, resulting in their divorce. Nevertheless, Irna persisted with the business, but this time, with me instead. In my time running the foodstall business with her, I had noticed a few peculiar things she did, before opening and upon closing of the stall everyday. However, I did not question her as I thought it might be something routine in the running of a food business.
Personally, I do not consume nor favour Mee Rebus. However, Irna had persuaded me to try her Mee Rebus, which was now so popular in the school that sometimes even parents had told their children to pack them some Mee Rebus after school, for them at home. After some persuasion from her, I did. Upon trying Irna's Mee Rebus, I was hooked! I craved Mee Rebus everyday, and had to have Mee Rebus everyday! (However, I ate Mee Rebus only from our stall, I still did not and would not consume the dish from elsewhere).
Still perturbed by some of the things Irna did, one day I decided to closely watch as she performed her daily routine...
Every morning, before opening our stall, Irna would stand before the door located at the back of the canteen. She would stand at the same spot for an estimated 5 minutes; I observed that as she stood, her lips were moving, as if reading a mantra. It is only after this ritual was done, that she would proceed to open the stall.
Next, she would proceed to sprinkle some water in a clockwise motion from the front of the stall, to the back, to the outside area of the stall, and back inside. An important spot of this sprinkling ritual was the food display, she told me, as this was where the 'penarikan' or attraction sat. This ritual was akin to the ritual of sprinkling holy water, however, the water that Irna used was yellow in colour, and contained leaves. All these were to be done by 430am when there was no one else around, but us as the other stall owners only arrived at 5 in the morning.
In the preparation of the food items to be sold, there were rules that I had to adhere to. For one, when stirring the Mee Rebus gravy, the stirring had to be done in an 'X' formation (I do not know the rationale for this). Secondly, I was not allowed to be nearby during the preparation of the spices.
Once the food were prepared and ready for selling, Irna would retrieve a bundle wrapped in yellow clothe which contained a hundred-dollar note wrapped in plastic, and place it in our cash container.
When the recess bell rang, the students would rush down to queue for food, and all the other stall vendors would comment, "Irna, your business is so good!""
Wallahu alam.
