Ride on Time

Chapter 45

Petaling Jaya, Selangor, the same day
Another day at the gym and Shreenika was proud of it. Her limbs glided in powerful yet graceful movements, guiding the group of women in front of her. Her work not only kept her fit, but it also helped her students become fit.
"Come on!" Shree urged. "Dance with me!"
She loved it, dancing to Trust Me by Yuya Matsushita. None of her students knew the song but they were just as hyped as Shree was, enjoying every second of the Zumba session no matter how much pain was felt.
"Dancing not only keeps you healthy, but it also boosts the production of serotonin, which boosts happiness and makes you feel good," Shree stated as her session went on. "That's right, keep moving."
She noticed how a woman at the back was having difficulty doing the squat boxing, stopping midway to catch her breath. Shree immediately switched the step to something simpler. She closed her eyes for a moment and enjoyed the song, letting the rhythm flow into her body in the form of dance steps. The song eventually ended, and the arrival of her coworker marked the end of her shift.
"They said they're gonna have an event on the fourteenth!" Hanis chirped as soon as the students took a break. "They say the theme is Diverse Cultures."
"Diverse Cultures ah..." Shree smiled thoughtfully. "Okay. We'll see how."
"What are you gonna wear?" Hanis asked. "I don't know what to wear."
"You can just wear baju kurung, it's still diversity," Shree suggested. "Or you can wear cheongsam, saree, you can wear Baju Melayu too."
"Where do you want me to find all of that?" Hanis sighed. "What are you gonna wear?"
"Probably one of my mom's sarees," Shree shrugged. "Anyway, see you tomorrow. I wanna hit the showers. Bye!."
Hanis smiled and waved at her. "Bye!"

"So what you wanna do for Christmas?" Chandrika piped up as the entire family lazed in the living room.
"Not sure, you decide," Devi, her mother, shrugged.
"Turkey," Shree smirked, eyeing her mother and grandmother. "It's Christmas, what. Do turkey lah."
"Where you wanna find turkey?" Her brother, Vasu, chimed in.
"Eh, I got see lah," Shree pointed out. "A bit expensive, but got."
"Wanna do Ayam Percik ah?" Devi asked, ignoring her granddaughter's request.
"Can," Chandrika agreed, ignoring the exaggerated sigh from her daughter. "But we're getting the sparkling juice for new year. "After all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year."
"Someone's birthday coming," Vasu smirked.
Shree smiled to herself. "I don't know who."
"We do lah something," Devi suggested. "What you want?"
"Biryani?" Shree grinned.
"Can, but I wanted to do for New Year," Devi said. "Never mind. We do something else for New Year."
"Ayam Percik lah," Chandrika grinned. "Then maybe we can do something else also."
"Need to buy things first," Devi smirked. "When you wanna go shopping?"
"Not today," Vasu sighed.
"Not tomorrow also," Shree frowned.
"We go now lah!" Devi grinned.
The grandchildren groaned.

"Why lah she always like this?" Vasu complained as he pushed the trolley around. "She will ask to go now. Everything now."
"And then she says we, as if she's coming," Shree agreed, chucking a pack of meehoon into the trolley. She like that lah. You don't know ah?"
"Yeah," Vasu sighed, pushing the trolley to the next aisle. "She always like that."
Shree snorted, guiding the end of the trolley towards the sauce section. "Yeah, but imagine. They wanna do Ayam Percik! Who's gonna do ah? Mom or Awah?"
"Awah lah best," Vasu grinned.
He suddenly put on a burst of speed and pushed the trolley forward. Shree ran after him, a bottle of Kampong Koh chilli sauce in her hand.
"Oi! Wait lah!" Shree called. She caught up with him and frowned, placing the glass bottle into the trolley. "Why suddenly you running?!"
Vasu grinned and held up a small glass bottle. "Marmite."
Shree sighed and shook her head. "Come, let's go take chicken."
They went on with their shopping and Shree suddenly pulled her brother to a freezer, almost pushing his face against the glass.
"See? That's turkey," Shree smirked.
"I know lah, Akka," Vasu pulled her. "Let's go."
"We need to get veggies first," Shree pointed at the produce section. "Let's go. I take, you weigh. Okay?"
"Alright," Vasu nodded. 

Shree opened the online shopping app and started looking for the costume she was thinking to wear to the event hosted in a few weeks.
A kimono.
Or at least, a yukata.
After all, the theme was Diverse Cultures. She decided to go for the Japanese culture because... why not? Also, she wanted a reason to finally get her hands on a yukata.
So she found one that suited her preferences, put it in her cart together with some white face paint and a red flower kanzashi. Shree frowned when looking at the kanzashi, the priciest thing in the lot. It costed around RM20 for a little cloth hairpin, and she needed more than one. The yukata itself was only a little over RM50.
Shree shook her head and took it out of the cart. She realised how the kanzashi looked a lot like the flowers her mother used to make.
"Mom!" Shree called at the top of her voice.
"Ah?" Chandrika called. "What lah?" 
Shree smirked and decided to do the same trick she would play on her.
Don't say anything after calling.
"What lah?" Chandrika asked again.
Again, don't say anything.
Chandrika sighed and eventually came to her. "What lah you want?"
"Mom, remember those flowers you used to do, the one with ribbons or something?" Shree grinned.
"Yeah?" Chandrika nodded. "Why ah?"
"Can you do for me some ah?" Shree grinned. "I wanna make hairpin."
Chandrika frowned thoughtfully but nodded. "Can. What colour you want?"
"Green or blue?" Shree smirked. "Can ah?"
Chandrika nodded. "Can. I see if got or not, blue and green ribbon, if not we go buy later?"
"Can, can," Shree smiled triumphantly. "Thanks, Mom!"
Chandrika nodded and returned to the living room to resume watching TV. Shree didn't have to pay a single cent for the kanzashi, now that she was getting it free of charge. She wanted to try making it herself, but she couldn't for the life of her get it right whenever Chandrika tried to teach her, and always messed up.
But at the same time, she was good with a crochet hook, be it with wool or with small rubber bands. She had tried teaching Chandrika, but the mother couldn't learn it either. So they were both crafty in their own ways.

Alright, you'll be seeing a few more terms.
-Awah means grandma in Telugu. Yes, they speak Tamil, but they use Telugu terms. This is very common among Malaysian Indians. Even if they're not of Tamil heritage, like for example Malayali or Telugu, they still speak Tamil. Like my family, are of Telugu heritage but none of us know the language, even my grandmother. This is because we never learnt it since Tamil is more common than Telugu or Malayalam in Malaysia. I mean... this is the case for my family at least. I've heard that some actually do learn the other languages but are still able to speak Tamil. So yeah.
-Ayam Percik is a type of spicy gravy with chicken. So ayam means chicken and Percik means... the style of cooking, I think. I can't explain it but you can identify by taste.
-Kampong Koh Chilli Sauce is a special type of chilli sauce with garlic that was originated from Kampung Koh, Sitiawan, Perak. But yeah, it's really good. It's especially popular among the Chinese, which makes sense since there's a big Chinese settlement in Sitiawan.
-Marmite is a brand of Vegemite, as a lot of you know, but it's an icon in Malaysia, especially in Chinese food. The dish Marmite Chicken, or pork, is an entirely Malaysian creation as I've never heard about it in China. But in Malaysia, nearly every Chinese restaurant has it.
-meehoon is a type of thin rice noodles.
-baju kurung is the traditional Malay attire for women.
-Baju Melayu is the traditional Malay attire for men. Melayu means Malay in... Malay lol. I had a hard time typing this out since autocorrect kept correcting Melayu to Malay. I guess it knows lol.

Yep, this is it. Baju Kurung and Baju Melayu. I'm sure you guys know what a saree and cheongsam is so I guess I don't have to explain that lol.