Poisoned Food
“Ma, I’m going down to get Pak Mail’s nasi lemak before it’s sold out,” Junita said, leaving the house to go to the famous nasi lemak stall down the road.
Pak Mail’s nasi lemak was famous in the village. People liked it for the rich coconut aroma in the rice and the spicy homemade chilli sauce to go with the rice. The best thing was that his nasi lemak could last through the whole day.
Often, Pak Mail’s nasi lemak would be sold out by early afternoon, and he would close his stall for the day. Naturally, Pak Main’s prospering business soon made him well-off.
Pak Tukiman, seeing Pak Main’s success, decided to open a nasi lemak stall at a more convenient location, hoping to steal away Pak Mail’s business.
Pak Tukiman sold his nasi lemak very cheaply to attract people. To do so, he had used cheap, often unfresh ingredients in his nasi lemak. However, this made his nasi lemak spoil faster, and many had complained of food poisoning after eating it.
People still walked the extra mile to go to Pak Mail’s stall instead.
Pak Mail’s business continued to do well, if not better, while Pak Tukiman would carry most of his packets back home feeling sad. As a result, Pak Tukiman got resentful of Pak Mail’s success.
“Pak Mail, the nasi lemak that I bought from you yesterday was spoilt by the time I ate in the afternoon,” said a customer to Pak Mail.
“Spoilt? It can’t be. Anyway, I’m sorry. I’ll make sure that it does not happen again,” Pak Mail apologised to his customer. “Here, take this packet. It’s free.”
“I must have added something wrong or the coconut must have been spoilt,” he told his wife.
But that was not the only complaint. It seemed that everyone had fallen sick after eating his nasi lemak.
The next day, Pak Mail took extra care in preparing his nasi lemak, making sure that the ingredients were fresh. Before he sold the nasi lemak, he made sure again that it was fresh before he sold it.
However, it happened again. More customers came back to complain this time. Pak Mail did not know as to why it was happening. He got worried. No matter how he tried to maintain hygiene in his stall, his customers always feel sick after consuming his nasi lemak. The funny thing was that Pak Mail and his wife ate their own nasi lemak, but non was affected.
Business got really bad for Pak Mail. Pak Tukiman’s business got better as people went to his stall instead to get nasi lemak. Pak Mail was puzzled, so was his wife. One of his relatives told him to consult a bomoh but he did not want to.
Things did not get better. Left with no choice, Pak Mail finally went to see a bomoh for help. He brought a few packets of his nasi lemak along, and showed it to the bomoh.
“Were you the only nasi lemak seller in your neighbourhood?”
“No, there was Pak Tukiman. His nasi lemak tasted worse than mine but now, everyone is buying nasi lemaks from him.”
The bomoh asked a few more questions and told him that someone had cast a spell on them. That was the reason as to why their business was bad.
Pak Mail was told to recite a rew verses from the Koran everyday before he cooked the nasi lemak. The bomoh also removed the spell from him. Pak Mail tried to find out the culprit. His suspicions were confirmed when the bomoh mentioned Pak Tukiman.
After that, Pak Mail was more careful in choosing his friends. He realised that not everyone who were very friendly with you would be genuinely happy to see you successful. That is the way of the world.