SHOPPING, SHOPPING, SHOPPING YEAR-END CLEARANCE

I went to a shopping complex and there were sales everywhere. It was really nice buying branded clothes at 25%, 50% and 70%. I spent a few hundreds to get myself new pants, underwears, jeans and clothes. My wife got herself a pair of shoes and something else. Many branded items like Camel, Crocodiles, Hugo, et cetra are there for grab. Lucky for some people they have extra cash for themselves after spending a few hundreds or may be thousands to buy school uniforms, stationeries and many other things. The new school year welcomes parents with school fees, new bus fares, PTA fees, tuition and many other countless expenditures to bear. Bonus is a great help but how many Malaysian parents get it ? Parents in the village are having headache to balance their income and expenses. The prices of rubber and palm oil have plunged so badly that they hardly get anything after selling their day's harvest. Prices of fertilizer and persticides remain high. A few months ago they could smile from ear to ear because of the soaring prices. In Bote, there even men acquiring second wives to show how economically capable they were. In a few days, kids will throng the schools with new uniforms, new Ben Ten bags and a new bike might be a scene as well. Their parents might be smiling as well but deep down inside they are suffering.....