1.19pm in the autumn afternoon. As I turn my head to my left and look outside past the semi-opaque curtains, through the glass sliding door, then, past the grill-gate, the autumn weather has thrown a gloomy shadow over the area.

I thought I’d go out for my 10 kilometer walk. The “gloomy shadow over the area” is a bit of a frown, bringing the rain with it. If I go for my walk now, people will mistake me with my umbrella for Gene Kelly. That guy can almost sing and dance like me. Ask my wife, Jeannie. She knows. “Jeannie? Jeannie? Where are you?” Ok ok. My head must be up in the clouds – indication of the rain clouds being quite low? Just foolin’ (speaking and spellin’ the “American” way, after watching a “Dry Bar Comedy clip) around.

On a quiet (very quiet) Sunday afternoon, I thought I’d give my computer keyboard and fingers a short rest, and go for that “thought-about”, talked-about walk. As I started my brisk walk, the raindrops had shrunk to tiny, fine drops. The rain stopped after half a kilometer into my walk.

By this time, the weather was beautiful. The sun was tucked away somewhere, it could not be see though the sky was clear from any clouds. The air was so clean and refreshing. There was a cool, gentle breeze blowing, throughout the walk, so much so, my walk was very pleasant.

As I walked around our neighbourhood, I could not help but notice that most of my neighbours were indoors, not outside; to enjoy the near perfect weather we were having.

While on my brisk walk to keep up with a certain basic health routine I set for myself; I thought about the current trending topic: as inflation has hit a high of 4.4% (the last time I checked) in Malaysia; Bank Negara, the Central Bank of Malaysia has raised the overnight policy rate (OPR) 3 times in quick succession. In layman’s terms, it just means your cost of borrowing loans has gone up three times.

This move is supposed to bring inflation down. Really? I mean really?

Sure it is supposed to make sense. Too much of cash chasing too few items. Then again, who is spending what money?

So, one would think we should be worried about this, right? Wrong. At least it sure seems the people aren’t worried. At the crowded shopping mall that I was at yesterday, I saw sales was brisk. People were buying like there was no tomorrow.

Recently, a news report stated that motor vehicles sales had surpassed the record of pre-pandemic times.

All this shopping economics seem good for the economy. 15 years ago, a very intelligent young 5-year old girl once told me, “Daddy, now that man is rich”, when I paid him cash for the new phone I bought from the store. I asked her what she meant. She said, “You gave him your money”. I said, “Yes, but I bought this new phone from him”. She replied, “Yes, but he’s got your money”.

As I seemed to be thinking deeper into this inflation, interest rates, spending money; suddenly dukong langsat crossed my mind.

It is past mid-September. I have yet to have had any langsat for this year. Known as langsat, duku langsat, dukong or dokong langsat; this local fruit is a “must-have”.

This fruit is soft, looks like jelly, but firmer; slightly juicy, sweet and slightly sour, but mostly sweet. Put one in your mouth, and you will be reaching out for the next one and the next and the next. To get the best out of it, it has to be put in the fridge for a couple of hours before eating it. Cold is nice. At least that is the way I like it.

Sells at an average price of US$2.20 (RM10) for 3kg; it is usually available in plentiful at the fruit-shops or sold by road-side vendors, langsat won’t disappoint. I am sure like everything else, the price would have surely gone up.

Oh yeah…For those people who are easily prone to flu; I don’t recommend walking in the rain, let alone singing and dancing in it.

NOTES:
Lansium parasiticum, commonly known as langsat, lanzones or longkong in English; duku in Indonesian or dokong in Terengganu Malay, is a species of tree in the Mahogany family with commercially cultivated edible fruits. The species is native to Southeast Asia. Wikipedia