10.45am The morning of Chap Goh Meh. Amcorp Shopping Mall. We had “settled in”, more or less. Our things were all in place, and we were ready to meet people who were expected to come by and see what we had to offer.

The Batik Influencer put in many last minute hours (Hmm.. what are “last minute hours?”) to ready a couple more of her Batik Cape Creations under her label, “Jeannie’s Own”. So, yes, very little sleep over the night (or is it “Under the night”?) English can be very tricky.

The Mall was quite quiet during the first couple of hours. Maybe, everyone was sleeping in late, due to the Chap Goh Meh eve celebrations, where the ladies were standing on a bridge, throwing..em…casting over the bridge all their oranges, with telephone and email contact numbers, hoping some lonesome hombres will find it and contact these ladies.

I did not research enough for the significance of this tradition. At face value, this could be my take: The ladies had eaten more than enough oranges for the season. The saying (“They say”) goes, eating too many oranges is not good for the throat. So, the ladies now had to get rid of the left over oranges since they were not going to eat them anymore. Some smart alec (alexandria?) thought of “killing two birds with one stone}: Get rid of the oranges, and maybe find a rich guy in doing so. As the saying goes, “single or unmarried women” are expected to be the ones throwing the oranges.

However, get this: there would be some ladies who are already attached but want to test the waters (pun intended; no, not to see if the oranges would sink) and who knows; pick up someone new. And a new trend could be in the making where the guys would be throwing oranges by the cartons (desperate situations calls for desperate measures) in the water, hoping to pick up a lady in distress (?). From what I heard of a recent story here in Subang Jaya where the lady orange picker up-er, liked the guy, bought him a Porsche and married him. (1)

It was just after mid-day when the crowds started coming in. The Batik Influencer was at her element, talking about anything batik while demonstrating her unique Batik Cape Creations. Derek, our lawyer friend; upon hearing that the Batik Influencer had new designs up for sale, asked me to send pictures of them. Within minutes, he replied, having chosen one and would come by to pick it up.

In the meantime, I thought that since I brought my mini soundbar speaker, I would have some fun blue-toothing some music from my phone to the speaker.

I first started with Liyana Fizi’s rendition of “Nona Nona Zaman Sekarang”. It came out so beautifully over the speaker that it attracted some people from around, including from the floors above and below; to come over. It is such a happy, catchy tune. In fact, we could see many people tapping their feet or making some happy gestures in keeping in time with the music, especially to the songs they knew.

Then, I picked another one of her songs. I started playing many of Ushera’s pieces, too. She is super awesome. You should definitely link up to her and enjoy her beautiful, beautiful songs and support her career, too. Before I knew it, I was the D.J. for the east wing. I played songs sung by many singers, both, men and women. It certainly livened up the place.

We met with our friends, Khatijah Marianne Magness and Jane; both of whom run their own booths and are very established in Amcorp Mall. We also met my cousin, Leticia; who stopped by for a short visit. It is always nice to see her and her husband, Johnny. These are opportunities for us to bring each other up to speed with the latest going-ons in our lives.

I went to Mahmud, the hat seller’s booth. I found a cap which I think is nice. It’s a “newsboy” type of hat. Mahmud said that this is a favourite of the royals. What do you think? Should I go for it?

The Batik Influencer and the Hatted Writer (that’s me, of course😏) decided to call it a day at about 5.30pm. By the time we packed everything and was ready to go, it was just after 6. We are looking forward to tomorrow.

Venue and Time:
1st Floor, Amcorp Shopping Mall,
Booth 1.16, Level 1
Amcorp Shopping Mall,
8, Jalan, Persiaran Barat, Seksyen 52 Petaling Jaya, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Date: Feb 24 and Feb 25, 2024
Time: 10.00am to 5.30pm (can be extended to 7.00pm)

NOTES:
1. The “lighter side” of traditions.