Sunday, February 25, 2007

Not available

Why oh why is Singapore so weird in terms of things [not] available here? I wanted Tang [wiki] and didn't find it in any of the major hypermarkets like Giant, NTUC Fairprice, Carrefour, or Cold Storage. I finally found Tang at Shing Shiong in just one out of its six outlets in Singapore.

I brought a sesky lamp from Pakistan from the reknowned Bajwas shop [which belongs to my paternal family, where my father has taken office after my grandfather passed away last year]. Before I brought it to Singapore, I had it fitted with a sesky walaiti [foreign-made] dimmer [wiki] and chord. This dimmer was designed for 220 volts and not 230 as required for Singapore. So it burnt down. I've tried all the above-mentioned hypermarkets plus various electronics' shops at Clementi and outside Ikea to try to buy a dimmer but in vain.

At first, the shopkeepers get confused as they don't understand what a dimmer/dimmer-switch is. I would explain how sometimes the light is too bright and you need to 'dim' it. And you do that with a 'dimmer'. Some shopkeepers would understand the concept of dimmer but only to tell me it's - guess what - not available. The closest I've come so far in acquiring one is when I explained the concept of a dimmer to this guy who worked at Giant and he said, "Oh! You mean 'deemer'! Sorry don't have." What a delight to meet someone who knows what a dimmer is [and can actually use the word - whatever his pronunciation].

And now the most recent "not available" tragedy is fresh cream [wiki]. The chicken is marinated and it looks scrumptious even in its uncooked form, but I have no cream. No cream! *crying face*


Again, as I browsed through various shops I had to explain the concept of fresh cream: "You know, what you use to decorate a cake with?" A moment later I found myself in the sugar section.

In one case where the shopkeeper directed me to an assortment of cheese spreads [after taking me to the dairy section - and pointing to condensed milk and then Milo, I tell you!], I picked the Kraft Cream Cheese Spread jar up and told her how I want the same thing without the word 'cheese', crossing it out with my finger. She kept looking because by then even she was surprised they didn't hold the item. It's funny, really.

I rest my case.

In Pakistan you can get all these things and more at any of the "general stores" [our version of Seven Eleven you may say] closest to your home. I mean, it's just cream lah! Even Shell's Select stores and Georgie's Mart should hold cream!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

lol! i mean 'awwww'

poor u!

-aj