Ubiquitous

Ice cream ‘potong’ & kind-hearted taxi drivers

31 Oct 2009 No Comments

by Ubiquityin Reality bites Tags: dessert, kind cab drivers

Old-skool ice cream seller

During my childhood, I vividly remember getting excited whenever the ice cream seller comes around. Operating from bicycle or motorbike, the seller goes from street to street ringing a bell making his presence known. When the ringing stops, kids and adults from the area would flock to him to get their hands on the goodies.

Now ‘potong‘ basically means cut in Malay. The reason for that lies in the way the it was served. Ice-cream was molded into a block like the size of 1 ream of A4 papers and kept frozen. The seller then cuts the block to smaller size identical to a cigarette box and serve it like a sandwich with a slice of bread or in between thin wafers.

The flavors available are; chocolate, chocolate chip, strawberry, mango, sweet corn and even durian! My favorite was the sweet corn.

Anyway, this afternoon I saw the ice cream seller on my way to my mom’s, reminding me of the good-old days I decided to get one. As I was ordering the same taxi driver who drove me there stopped for an ice cream as well. We had a little chat and such a gentleman he was, he insisted to pay for mine. I was technically a total stranger whom he spent mere 15 minutes alone in a car with! God bless his kind heart.

Getting the ice cream out of the freezer

Cutting the ice cream

When was the last time you meet a person like that?