Potato Crisp

Hmn. Lunch had been horrid at the school canteen for the first 2 days of the week. It is Ramadhan. About a third of the school population is not eating.

Because of this, the school canteen does not really know how much to cook in order to cater to the eating population. On Monday, when I went for lunch, they ran out of rice. For lunch on Tuesday, there were only sardines and stir-fried beansprouts.

I get really nasty when I do not get a good lunch. It is after all my main meal of the day! "You are too cruel!!" I wailed at the canteen operator while trying to scoop out pitiful bits of sardine fish from a tray full of tomato gravy. "I'm hungry, you know!!!" I continued ranting at her.

"This is not ordinary sardine, ok. It's branded. King Cup. Everybody likes sardines," she said in defense.

"This is so very darn pathetic!!" I said, extremely annoyed with her.

So, feeling rather dissatisfied with lunch, my eyes started straying to the colourful packages on the counter.

"Is this nice?" I asked the canteen operator, pointing to some bright green square packets which stated "Potato Crisp". I decided to buy 2 packets, knowing that I'd be hungry later on in the day. At least I'd have something to snack on.

After my classes at 3 p.m., I ripped open a packet and found very thin round biscuits. They were crispy and yum, tasted of vegetables. I enjoyed the biscuits tremendously.

You know, when I think about it, I suppose the canteen operator probably did not have access to school data. She probably did not know that only a third of the school population was fasting. Hence, she did not know that she still had to prepare two-thirds of the amount that she usually cooked. Someone should have informed her that!