NGA

Back in school, the food sucked. I am not exaggerating, it truly sucked. Often when I told people about it, they would tell me that 'it can't be that bad lah'. Well, I don't know if it can get any worse when you can expect maggots in your veggies and fly eggs (telur lalat la) on your chicken on an almost daily basis. The mee hoon would be springy like rubber bands and the fried mee is soaked in some funky reddish oil. The sambal sotong they serve for Friday lunches was always rancid and the sambal udang was completely inedible. Above all, I'm still unable to eat chicken korma without gagging to this day, in memory of the infamous ayam petrol (chicken dipped in gallons of oil and a smattering of spices and they call it korma). Heck even the dining hall cats refused to eat the fishes we threw down to them, one cat even ate the veggies instead.

It was so bad, we had to resort to other outlets for good food. The canteen was the best bet for better food. Even better if you dare to sneak out and 'fly' to town to get the delicious Nasi Lemak Karok (it's no longer there, we checked), or to the train station for a dose of good old NGA (Nasi goreng Ayam) at Cik Nah Cik Ni (also now defunct). Of course not everyone is willing to take the risk, or just too goodie-two-shoes to do so. There's always the third option - Order.

Order would consist of one Tokan who would be the boss of the night and one or several Runners, depending on how big an operation it would be. The business concept is simple, buy 5 you get 1 free. They can get orders of 30-40 sets* normally which equals to 6-8 free sets. They can either eat it themselves, or sell it off, or exchange it for other goodies**. The order will be taken discreetly on a very small piece of paper and noted down in codes, in case things go south. Macam drug traffickers la pulak,haha.

The food would arrive around 3am or so, and the Runners would go about distributing it to the customers. Then you can see folks waking up to eat and probably chat a bit before resuming their slumber.

Unfortunately, Order is deemed illegal by school rules. The wardens are aware about Orders and they tried their best to thwart it. Sometimes they would catch the Runners in the act of completing the transaction (done over the fence at a pre-agreed place), other times they swoop in while we the customers were eating. Once cries of 'Rampa' rang out, everyone would try to hide the evidence. Some simply put it in their lockers, or under the beds or straight to the trashcan. Me, I have a different way. I would wrap my right hand with the wrapping paper and secure it with the rubber band and put the hand-rice combination under the pillow. Of course, face need to be turned towards the wall so that they can't see the oily lips =P Solved the problem, hands need not be washed, and NGA does not go to waste!

Many years on, I still yearn for a good dose of NGA and Teh Ais. Although it doesn't taste quite like Cik Nah's anymore, you have to make do right?

Sets* : a normal set is a pack of NGA and Teh Ais. Then there's also set fakir and set mahligai (or sometimes called set maharaja). The name denotes the price while the actual content of the set may vary.

Goodies** : normally this would spell D or M. Dunhill or Marlboro that is.