The Malay saying in the title, "Lain Padang Lain Belalang", can be literally translated as “other fields, other grasshoppers” and is a fond way of celebrating variations in customary traditions in different states in Malaysia.
Muhammad Arash is proud of the creative traditions of his native southern peninsular state: “If you're a johorean who appreciates these cultures, you must be familiar with telur pindang”. Telur pindang is a typical Johore dish, where eggs are boiled in salt together with tannic ingredients such as soy sauce, shallot skins, guava leaves, tea or other spices common in Southeast Asia, which helps to preserve them while giving them a dark brown colour. In his painting, the telur pindang have been used as part of the bunga telur door gift extended to gifts at Malay weddings, whose “lovely tradition evokes a sense of nostalgia.”
The painting tells of a simple pleasure. We see the stalk of the bunga telur gift bearing only its decorative flower and foliage, and an empty mesh pocket which would have contained an egg. On one side of it, there is a small dish of telur pindang, with one cut in half, and on the other, a dish with some brown-stained eggshell, presumably peeled off an egg which has already been eaten and enjoyed.