I remembered my mother telling me, rather excitedly, that she wanted to grow a pot of chilli padis. But apparently, she was very hesitant to sticking with it. And it seems that she had this friend who happened to be staying at our block growing a pot of chilli padis. But the bad thing was that, some inconsiderate neighbor(s) decided to help themselves to the chilli padis instead of buying or growing their own. Seriously, it's these selfish folks, claiming to be neighors that spoiled the "Kampung spirit" everyone used to have back in the kampung days. Although I didn't live in one before, by just hearing my grandparents talked about it makes it sound vibrant, cosy and meaningful.

Now in HDB flats, condominiums, semi-D houses, everyone closed their doors and locked it from inside. Any form of smile or warm gesture will guarantee people staring down at you, thinking if you were planning to rob them. And of course, unscrupulous characters who snitch away your chilli padis without so much as asking. At the very least, leave a few bucks in the neighbors mailbox, followed by a note explaning that one needed the chilli padi in a hurry and since there was no time to run out and buy, said person simply pluck whatever was on the pot and now is paying back in cash terms due to not asking for permission first.

A little goes a long long way, that is definite for sure. I mean, is it that hard to just simply ask in the first place? And by the way, my mother ended up not growing her pot of chilli padi and settled for some indiscernible plants instead.