cakap cakap....Bangsar.

I woke up this morning thinking of Bangsar...my favorite kampong. 

When I first moved to Jalan Limau Purut (my house is the second one from the right) many many decades ago, there was no McDonalds, no Bangsar Village....but TMC was already up and running. 

It was then a quiet suburb of KL that had all you needed for your daily needs without having to venture out of Jalan Maarof. By the time of my last stay in Bangsar Permai in Jalan Tandok, about six years back, you could still get everything that you need and want in Bangsar without venturing out of Jalan Maarof ....only this time in more abundance, in more variety and in a more sophisticated manner than I could have ever imagined when I first moved to Jalan Limau Purut three decades ago. 

Today, I am told, Bangsar "ROCKS!". 

My fondest memories of Bangsar has nothing to do with the fact that Bangsar "ROCKS!" The time we spent living in Bangsar was a time when my wife and me could spent time together shopping for groceries at TMC, BSC or the various outlets in and around Jalan Maarof....and it was at a time when parking your car was not yet a problem. It was also a time when we felt absolutely safe moving around any part of Bangsar at any time of the day. You saw a few of the rich and famous doing their thing at BSC and in and around Bangsar but these were the "established" rich and famous who had no reason to flaunt their physical wealth or insists on their quota of "entitlements" by pushing their weight around in the shopping centers or in and around Bangsar. They were then a civilized lot. 

But by the time of my last stay in Bangsar Permai a few years back....things were changing. I no longer felt comfortable going to any of the shopping centres or outlets in Bangsar in my slippers and shorts - especially to BSC. 

Everything was changing but not for the better - at least not for me. 

Going to McDonalds was sometimes unpleasant because it was no longer a place to get burgers for a meal but more a place where uncouth, ill mannered teens with money and time to spare congregate to do whatever it is they do with other like minded teens. 

TMC is always busy busy busy. 

And the traffic horrendous. No place to park, traffic jams all the time....and you begin to question the logic of Bangsar founding fathers who should have planned ahead...much much ahead to a time when the narrow roads no longer can allow flow in and around all of Bangsar. And when Friday comes....avoid the Mosque and its surrounding roads like the plague because of Friday Prayers. Hundreds of cars parked along the road, beside the road and on the road! Any one who questions the influence of Islam in Malaysia will be at a loss for words to argue against it should they see what happens on Friday in and around any mosques in Malaysia. Bangsar is no exception!

Notwithstanding all that has changed and is still changing in Bangsar, for those of us familiar with Bangsar, there are still places in Bangsar we can go where we can indulge in what Bangsar means to us most. 

Early mornings spent at the Lucky Garden Markets is one of those places. First you decide on what you want for breakfast - Chinese, Malay, Indian...its all there for the buying at prices you will not quibble with. Then you look around for fruits and your other daily needs. Fish, meat, eggs, vegetables.....you are lost in your own world as everything else swirls and bustles around you. The noise is deafening and yet you do not hear it. Here and there you meet with relatives, friends and familiar faces...a nod here and a nod there...some hurried conversation....and sometimes a promise to meet for drinks later...but what drives you is getting the shopping done asap and then there is that bought breakfast for you and the family waiting to be had. 

These are my memories of Bangsar. 

Today, maybe, Bangsar is not a place I can afford to live in anymore. I understand that Bangsar Permai has almost doubled in rent from the time I was last there six years ago. The terrace houses now are sold for over a million ringgit and more. A fried rice in one of those restaurants in Bangsar Village is way above RM10...reaching towards the RM20 mark. It has been over six years since I was last there....and I will now be a stranger to what Bangsar is now.....but the memories will stay with me...and even here in Melbourne...my heart, my mind and my senses still visit Bangsar whenever it moves me....and this morning was one of those times.