What comes after one month of Ramadhan fasting? Open houses and more food. Sometimes it so hard to juggle one open house after the next. So much so the weekends are all taken up with going to house after house after house. Quite tiring. It is even harder to juggle when you have so many houses you have to go to.
Suggestion: make priority list. Who should come first and second, third and so on. Take this weekend for example, I am packed. To top the cake, the girls are having their family day in school and they have music class too. And two open houses which I have to go to: one in Bukit Beruntung and one in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. I feel tired already just thinking about Saturday.
Why is it that we have to organise an open house? Don't get me wrong, it is not that I don't like going for them. But who came up with this idea? Everyone is so anxious to hold their open house and they rush for the weekends. Of course the obvious reason would be to meet family and friends and celebrate the Eid with them. But other than that, a time of giving and sharing I guess. Any other reasons ah?
The Ministry of Tourism organised open houses for every festivity the nation celebrates. They say it is a good way of celebrating with other Malaysians and to share the spirit of giving. When I was in NST tourism was my beat and I think I wrote about why they held these events without fail year in and out. But now for the life of me I can't remember those many good reasons anymore. If I remember, I was rather critical at that age and used to think it was a lot of money spent. They stage a cultural show and a parade, fireworks and tables laden with food. People who come from near and far would make a beeline for the free food and its like a tug of war. I didn't see the reasons why it was organised when all you saw was the way the people grabbed at the food. It makes me feel quite sad that Malaysians can be so uncivilised when it comes to the word "free". If you remember sometime ago, one of the government agencies held an open house for tourists and all these other "public" people came and they swiped the table laden with a simple fare of dishes clean. The tourists were left with nothing to eat but only a bad impression of Malaysians who were "free loaders" and "greedy". Oh well ...
When I used to cover the Gerakan open house during the Chinese New Year it was the same deal too. Tables of food and withing minutes, clean! Some people even come with plastic bags. When annual general meetings of public listed companies are held its the same deal too. Tables of food and within minutes clean. And they have to bring plastic bags. Why? Why does this happen????
It is that word "free" that gets to them. That word takes away all dignity, integrity and pride. It may not even be big or expensive things that they are making grabs for. It is just because it is free!
Anyways, have a good open house for those who are organising them and Insyaallah, I will make my way to where I have been invited. But sometimes with three kids in tow, it can be a bit of a challenge!
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