“You want this?” said the Malay lady, the owner of the Herbal Rice (Nasi Kerabu) stall, her fingers deftly weaving in and out of the delicacies laid out on the table. Her customer flashed an eager smile, her head nodding away, looking pleased.
“This?” said the owner of the stall again, this time her fingers were holding the spoon to something which looks like budu (fermented anchovy sauce).
“Oh no! No, thank you!” she broke out into a laugh.
The nasi kerabu seller went on to stack the tiffin carrier and was about to put it into a plastic bag when the owner said, “Please, no thank you! No plastic bag, please!”
And off she went, full of energy. I watched her happily walking away, her blonde head bobbing amongst the crowd. Everybody else around were smiling. I looked down at the bundles of plastic bags filled with the things we bought, wrapped around the fingers of my other half. And mine too! We exchanged meaningful looks. Guilty to the core…
We were feasting our eyes, buying dinner, at the Saturday night market in Kuah, Langkawi – only, it was still daylight then. The sun slowly moving towards the horizon.
The next morning, we met the blonde again, at the elevator. We exchanged smiles. Little did we know that we were staying in the same condominium block, overlooking the sea, just off the yatch training centre. The place belongs to my brother. A very popular piece of property with numerous expatriate owners.
I salute the spirit of some of these expatriates – their conviction on greening, no plastic bags and all. Hiring bikes, or walking to town. More sensitive towards issues concerning sustaining the earth. Of which we Muslims should be at the forefront. We - who are supposed to be Allah’s vicegerent on this earth…
So touched I was, that when I returned to my working home at Parit Buntar, I tried to emulate the same spirit. And so, the next time I was buying my grocery, I brought my carrier bag along. At the checkout counter, the girl was filling in my things in plastic bags, oblivious to the carrier bag which I held out to her. So, smiling and full of spirits, I said, “No plastic bags, please! In this bag here, thank you!”
What did I get? Pouting lips, frowns and glaring stares, also from the adjacent check-out counter… So much for trying to go green, eh?
No comments:
Post a Comment