Gulping down the last of the Gatorade I just bought from 7-Eleven, I slowed down to a steady walk to finish the final leg of my evening jog, passing by one of the local mamak restaurants. Apparently, during my absence, they have installed a little upgrade to their premise; on the two trees on the other side of the road opposite the restaurant, they have mounted large stereo hi-fi speakers facing the restaurant.

I noticed this from the wires tied to the trunk of the tree that ran down from the speakers. The speakers themselves were given a military camouflage cloth cover, and cleverly obscured behind the shady leaves.

That’s a nice move to improve the ambiance for the people dining al fresco, I thought. As I walked toward them, a song started playing. It was a Diana Krall! I thought that it was impressive that this mamak is starting to play jazz music to attract more customers. I slowed down further just so I can enjoy the walk under the shade and good music a while longer. Suddenly, there was distortion in the sound, followed by some static noise and then…

“…dil to paagal hai, mer ga maana haai! dil to paagal hai, ver na vaana mell!…”

…or something like that. Oh well. I guess some things really do go by that old adage, what was it again…oh yes.

Once a mamak stall, always a mamak stall.