I wrote the section in quotes long time ago but chose not to publish it then. However recent developments have changed this decision and hence here it is. The last 2 paragraphs are the recent developments in the Durian War. Some seller has to wake up her idea yea..

Seems that we are always surrounded by cerita buah buahan, fruit stories, especially during the elections period when we talk about chikus being ripe enuff to pick, or a particualar issue being somewhat very thorny.. Well i have my own durian story too..heh..

You know, I love durians alot, or rather I love the process of choosing them alot. All the shaking, smelling, listening in order to pick a real gem of a durian, the process is more impt than the eating of the durian itself i guess.. Heck, even paying for the durian is worth it, all just to select a good durian. The secondary benefit is obviously savouring the fruits of my labour, ie the selection process and payment.

I select my durians from 3 vendors, run by very different bosses. A is a govt-backed durian seller. Lots of funds, lots of stall helpers, they run their business on a very professional, abeit in a very detached manner. And they have the best durians, which they know, and they are very proud of. They even allow young kids to come in, sniff @ the durians, select them and even pay for them, but they are not allowed to eat the durians. The experience of being able to select the atasdurians is good enough as a payment.

B is a stall that’s backed by the top academic minds in Singapore, who have decided that selling durians is something that can be done easily and also, make themselves look like they have a softer side, not just doing academic research. B enjoys a steady stream of customers who are undergraduates just like me, and it’s durians are definitely not as good A’s. However the buyers keep on coming back, we all know one another and it’s a good place to sit down to not just choose durians, but also to interact with your fellow buyers. The boss used to be someone real friendly, who spoke his mind about lousy durian selectors and rewarded good selectors with better durians.

C is an old-time stall which is trying hard to modify its business model to match itself against A n B. Word has it that it’s backed by the govt, although now it’s directly administered by a former durian buyer @ B. She has obviously learnt enough from shopping at B to decide that she too can be a good durian seller. The durians here are the lousiest, come to think of it. But @ least her durians are of uniform quality, it doesn’t take much effort to select a decent durian. What’s more, if u end up selecting till after 11, she gives u an extra durian to make up for the late nite cab ride to get u home. They have a rewards program, buy enough and regularly from them and you become a senior buyer, getting access to the D24s

I started this love affair with selecting durians from B 2 years ago and then eventually expanded to both A n C. Despite the fact that i get better durians at A, as much as I can, i would still wanna buy more often from B even though A has more durian-selection opportunities. I mean, who wouldn’t wanna buy from someone familiar mah..

Alot of things are changing at B though, the 大老板 and 小老板 (big and small bosses) just left, and now the stall is run by 2 ladies who obviously have big plans for the stall. Wanna compete more with A, bring in more D24 and Red Prawn durians..heh.. Sadly right now, the durians are not any better but there are more restrictions to how u select durians. You can’t sniff too much, have to decide fast. You have to sniff in a certain way, as set by 小老板, who also decided that customers must select their durians by a set of rules fixed by the two of them. Quite a few durian buyers are getting frustrated, some have even stopped buying durians from B altogether. With my commitments now, I only go back to select durians once in a while when i’m free or when i see that the stall is lacking customers and i dun mind extra durians for consumption.

Recently around B, there are some new durian stalls set up. And they make it easier for you to select your durians. Being new, they don’t really have rules in place yet, so all up to the experienced buyers to set the standards. Good durians, better than those at B, are available. However B decided to be anal and starts to select its customers, making a rule that if you wanna buy from B, you cannot buy from anywhere else near B without declaring. Declaring doesn’t mean approval, it probably means getting a NO from B.

I think it has gotten to a stage where I dun even go back to B so often to buy my durians. Heck, with my work commitments, I have restricted myself to mainly C. B is now only for old time’s sake when their business is bad and i volunteer to go buy durians from them. The only plus point about there is that friends are there.