In 'hot' pursuit

A long long time ago, young Indians working in Singapore used to bug people travelling from Singapore to India to carry all sorts of electronic gadgets for their parents. "The quality is very good. Authentic. The real stuff. And cheaper!" was the argument.

The parents, on the other hand, would bug the same poor travellers to carry back bottles and cans of garam masala and what not for their kids. "The quality is very good. Authentic. The real stuff. And cheaper!" was the argument.

And then a couple of years ago, things changed. The parents in India started looking at the gadgets with disapproval and saying, "Oh, we get all of these in India now. And cheaper. And better quality. Don't send any more." And not to accept defeat, the young Indians starting looking at the bottles of spices with disapproval and saying, "Hmmmph! We get all of these in Singapore now. And cheaper. And better quality. Don't send any more."

The world had reached equilibrium. Everyone was at peace. The frequent travellers were finally breathing easy, and stopped avoiding both the young Indians and their parents.

And that's when one of the young Indians -- yours truly -- made a startling discovery.

Singapore does not carry green chilli sauce.

I repeat - Singapore does NOT carry green chilli sauce.

Allow me to react again --> :O :O :O

Even Mustafa Centre, the be-all and end-all of everything Indian, did not. The staff gave you puzzled looks when you asked for green chilli sauce.

"Chilli sauce?? Green??" They asked, and then shrugged and pointed to Maggi red chilli sauce bottles.

And I gave them the 'look' and wondered - what kinda Indians are you if you don't know green chilli sauce? I can understand if local Indians don't know it. But you sound like Indians from India, and every Indian worth his/her salt grew up in India on Chinese food (or least what they thought Chinese food was, till they landed in Singapore) with a generous dash of chilli sauce. Green chilli sauce.

The thought of my kitchen sans green chilli sauce bottles was revolting. In a country where carrying drugs carried a death penalty, my green chilli sauce was my legal marijuana. How was I to survive without it?

So I spread the word. Let every living soul who even remotely knew me, know of my obsession. Hung my head in shame and admitted to the parents that yes, there was something they could send that I could not get in Singapore. Chased the same frequent travellers, who could not believe that I had pushed them back in time, and asked them to bring back bottles of my wonder drug. While people emerged from duty-free with perfume bottles for a friend they were about to surprise, the poor souls emerged with green chilli sauce bottles for a friend they were about to abandon.

So when my Mom-in-law came to visit me, she got me green chilli sauce bottles. When Mom and Dad came to visit me, they got me green chilli sauce bottles. When Dad-in-law came to Singapore to attend a conference, he got me green chilli sauce bottles. Shub went to India and got me green chilli sauce bottles. My seven blog sistahs sent me a bottle of green chilli sauce (among other things) for my birthday. And the rate at which I was finishing off the bottles was quite unbelievable. Fortunately, I believe there are about sixteen more bottles floating around in various parts of Singapore that I have to pick up. So my "virtual cellar" is full, even if the home stock is dwindling.

Today, I met an old friend for dinner. She's a Singaporean Indian who'd just come back from a trip to India. She handed me a large plastic bag when she saw me.

And inside the plastic bag, I found five bottles of...















My stock (the third one's "work in progress")