Come together* - The Beatles

It din take me long to immerse meself - or shall i say, reimmerse meself - in one of our local cultures here. I'm talking about the "mamak" culture!

For the uninitiated, the mamak culture refers to the hanging out on roadside or al fresco styled eateries (altho now some are indoors and cafe-like) late in the nite/early hours of the morning. It is the place to hang out and get together - and it's always opened, except during the Muslim festivals.

I had wanted to blog about it - but i found the Wikipedia write-up on it really good (me lecturers would be frowning on me for referring there!) and i decided to just reproduce part of it here:-

The mamak stall has been etched permanently into Malaysian culture, much in part because of its ubiquitous nature, especially in cities. The popular culture of hanging out at mamak stalls has permeated all walks of life in Malaysian society. Thus, the mamak stall is very much a melting pot of cultures, a symbol of multiracial harmony. People of all races, religion and age would frequent a mamak stall to while away their time gossiping or watching a late-night football game as they sip hot teh tarik. ... No other eatery has quite as much cultural significance, save for the kopi tiam.

Good stuffs-eh? I couldn't have said it any better!!! Read the rest here.

To me, it has played a big part of me life back here - and continues to do so! I have had a lot of memorable mamak sessions, some wonderful, some hilarious - which we still talk about today (and laugh over it again), some horrible! Many a frenships have been strenghtened over a glass of teh tarik and a piece of roti planta eaten on a rickety table, sometimes wif roaches and rats scurrying nearby, and most of the times wif mozzies feasting on our legs!!!! And i'm sure there be many more of such brilliant sessions.

Mamak anyone? ;-)

*A brillaint song which hit #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 Chart but failed to do so in the UK Singles chart! Covered by many including Aerosmith (you can hear it on the Armageddon soundtrack) and a brilliant version by Robin Williams together wif Bobby McFerrin!