Tuesday, 3 September 2019

Unsung Hero Files, Quasi-Dossier 01: The Man Who Cooked Pancit

It’s unfortunate that Anish (not his real name) and his culinary career as a mess hall cook took an unexpected twist quite recently. Ironically, it also involved the same potent liquid that caused the sacking of the fellow he relieved just a few months ago.

But unlike the other fellow who drank the addictive aqua vitae in excess, which resulted to the latter hitting his brethren in the face, Anish’s case was different: the reason was his personal enterprise with the pure intention to earn an extra buck so he can save enough funds for his family back home—he was just acting as a middleman like the way he did with his other informal businesses. The fellow applies a miniscule OHP for his buy-and-sell ventures: prepaid cards, extra care laundry services with a fixed fee, unaccounted surplus appetizers from the dynastic few’s cupboards, etcetera. Unfortunately, his side job must have thrived well that it probably evoked from his brothers the same venial feeling which Cain and Esau felt ages ago. His only default, which he should not have partaken had he been diligent, was to endeavour to make ‘certain’ people happy by selling a potion that has influenced people since they discovered that expired grapes can turn people into their happy jester selves or worst, unleash the Minotaur within. 

In life, it’s a dog-eat-dog world. A colleague at work today may have a veneer sweetness and by tomorrow will not even remember your birthday.

Everywhere around the globe, there is no recession of sycophants. The latter practices the same passion to survive—justifying their actions by all rights but unlike Anish, they will not care what the future holds for the people whose lives they’ve just stepped on.

We’re from different countries but that man, he has the heart to cook: he once fixed for breakfast a similar noodle dish made popular by a woman I knew from a coastal town back home that eternally prefixed her name to Pancit

He is a good man. He earns less than most people do. But I know he can recover—God loves good people. They may falter to sin or ignorance sometimes, but God knows that already, which is why He gave a gift to all of us to use when such a circumstance occurs—God created the value of resilience.

I wish him luck. I am happy with the thought of him reuniting with his family after years of being away from them. I hope he starts a new enterprise; I hope he finds courage to cook again. I hope he remembers that noodle dish—he can rebuild from there.

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