May day

1st of May is International Workers' day, a day of celebration of the social and economic achievements of the international labour movement. It is also called May Day where one commonly sees organized street demonstrations by millions of working people and their labour unions throughout most of the countries of the world. (Wikipedia).

But, what 1st of May really mean to me?

It is a holiday of course, which also means, no more waking up at 6.30 am. It is also a day where shoppers including myself thronged the shopping complexes looking for dirt cheap bargains.

It is also a day where many stingy people like myself who wait till this special one day to shop for our dream items usually offered at great discounted prices.

But, I guess, this year we should celebrate World Inflation day instead.

Instead of seeing some price cut, we are getting our throat cut. The price of goods has increased such tremendously, especially the price of food.

Take for instance, some three months ago, I bought a 10 kg rice for some RM 18.00, but now the cheapest one on this pathetic scarce-shelf of this supermarket is RM 24.00. The Rambutan brand that I used to buy for RM 19.90 is now sold for RM 40.00, such a ridiculous hike!

Not only that, the regular food that I consumed everyday has all increased very significantly. Take for example, Cintan Mee (5 packets) now cost RM3.20 (previously RM 2.30), Julie Peanut butter crackers RM7.60 (previously RM5.90), or Milo 400gm RM6.90 (previously RM5.90). I am not talking about food prices some ten years ago, but just three months ago.

Ever since the 15% basic salary hike one year ago, all I had thought was I finally could have a decent standard of living, but then only to find that the prices of all the goods and services had increased disproportionately higher. Now, it is back to square one or worst, 'negative one' I would say.

I really can't comprehend what all this 'global phenomena' of food crisis we are experiencing now, why and who are behind the conspiracy?

Some 50 years back, my parents used to think eating rice is a luxury, cause they could only afford to eat sweet potatoes and Cassava root plucked from the wild. My mom used to nag at us to not leave a single grain of rice on the plate cause it was such a sin to do so, while other poor people are dying of famine.

I dread to even think that we might have to go back to a state where we need to eat sweet potatoes instead of rice. Even worse, the sweet potatoes are equally more expensive nowadays.

How could I ever survive without my rice?

I also can't even accept the idea of cutting down on the intake of rice.

While it seems that many people have already resorted to taking two or even three jobs to continue to survive, what I might want to think now is perhaps, I should consider to 'prostitute' myself regularly again to continue to survive.

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U.N., World Bank tackle food crisis.
Famine fears for N. Korea, Egypt raises salary.
We must all do our part to overcome rice shortage.