The Porridge vendor and the Satay stall

 

You are looking at a delivery service in the 1950s!

Around midnight, a cyclist would patrol the street,  ringing his bicycle bell to announce the availability of his popular pork, chicken and fish porridge. It was indeed a pleasant sound for the hungry and habitual supper crowd.There was apparently a large enough clientele waiting to fill up their stomachs before they could get down to sleep. 

People who resided in the upper floors of buildings usually had wicker baskets tied to strings to lower them to the vendor's helper. The orders, together with the cash amounts due would be placed in the baskets. It was convenient and safe, and it was a unique service!

I had never seen the stall itself as it must have been stationed away from my residence. Usually the used cutleries were returned the day after, simply by leaving them outside the house for the helper to retrieve them. With most of the population living in high rise apartment blocks today, I wonder what his tasks would be like to serve clientele living in upper floors!

The memory of one hawker that has remained etched in my mind was that of a Malay satay seller. He would come along carrying two small "tables", one on each end of a pole which he carried across his shoulders. He was hunched, probably through the years of bearing these  heavy loads. He would look for a shady spot to set up shop. On one table was his charcoal grill to roast his satay, and on the other table he would have the spicy sauces and space to accommodate a few customers.

He would have a number of small wooden stools for his customers to sit while enjoying his satay and ketupat (steamed rice cake wrapped in plaited leaves). There were no personalised bowls of gravy or dip for each individual. There were only common pots of gavy or dips for one and all! The customers would sit in front of him to eat, and he would keep a watchful eye on them, as he would charge each customer for the number of sticks or satay consumed.