March 2017
Unspoken compassion
I walked past the couple every time I took the footbridge leading from
Kowloon Tong train station to Festival Walk LG1. Rather humbly dressed, they
looked like in their 70s though the man could be a few years older. Using a
simple iron cast box placed on a wooden stand as the counter, they were selling
a traditional Teochew snack – the crispy candy roll. The wrapping is one flimsy
white flour sheet while the main stuffing is crunchy maltose bars.
This small business was run quite smoothly with the woman collecting the
money and the man preparing each order upon request. Carefully he took out one
sheet of wrapping from the box, laid it flat, put a candy bar in the middle, sprinkled
some sesame and coconut shreds on top and then rolled up the whole thing which
he put in a small brown paper bag. They even had a speaker on broadcasting “Crunchy,
crunchy, you miss out a lot if you don’t try it out”. It was the hoarse voice
of the man.
I did try one. Crunchy but too sweet! Business was not exactly good.
Then yesterday as I walked out of Festival Walk LG1, I was amazed to see
a queue waiting in front of the stand. But it was not the man preparing the
rolls. It was the woman while another woman was handling the money.
