Let’s Makan – get together with your neighbours over a meal!

December 29, 2014 · Written by TypicalBen

Before I start my post, I just want to ask you guys that if you all still greet your neighbours when you see them?

For me I definitely do! I’ve been greeting all my neighbours since young, and partly because I think our mum taught us well and always told us that we should greet our neighbours when we see them. Although, some of my neighbours had already moved out over the years but even when there are new neighbours moving to our floor or even the level below us (we stayed on 12th storey and we are also close to all our neighbours staying on the 11th storey), we still greet them too!

I’m not sure about you guys but to me, they are the people who live closest to us. They are the people whom we can count on, especially when we are not around at home. And so I don’t see why we should not be friendly to each other. For example, my neighbour will always help us to collect our parcel when the delivery man came but we are not at home. Or whenever I forget my keys and no one is at home (omg I dread this situation so much), they will always offer me to go to over to their place first while I wait for my family to be back. Small little actions like these can be really heart warming and helpful (especially when you’re stuck outside your house and you need to use the toilet – which always happens to me :/).

But honestly, as the society advances, the time that we actually get to be in touch with people decreases. We are all now busy with work/school etc. And even if we are not, you can see that everyone are obsessed with their mobile phones instead of wanting to interact with people physically. My mum always told me that during their younger days, when they still lived in kampong, they were really close to all their neighbours and the bond is so strong that even until now when they bump into each other, they behave like old friends catching up with all the fond memories that they used to share together.

I actually have a lot of fond memories too!!! As I was raised up here since young, so I know all the neighbours around me very well. When I was young, me and my brother would always play with my neighbours (kids) and we will go over to each others house to play games or watch cartoon! The families will also invite us to their place for meals too, same goes to us! I still remember clearly all the times I spent playing games with my neighbours and the fun we had! So nostalgic!

As time pass, and as we grew up, these kind of activities decreases and although we still greet each other and stuff but we seldom have that much time to get together for a talk or even inviting each other over for a meal anymore. Oh! Since I was talking about playing with my neighbour earlier on, one of them is already married! How time flies isn’t it! She invited us to her wedding last year and I was so touched when I was there. Because to me, I kinda feel like I watch her grow up since young. We used to play together, done tons of crazy stuff and now she’s already married omg. :’)

I always feel that in this current society, we are all usually very shy to make the first move and that’s probably one of the reason why such gatherings and activities with our neighbours are slowly obsoleting. And furthermore, most of us are more keen to interact with our smartphones or laptops instead of human beings, which is kinda bad. So when I heard of that Singapore Kindness Movement actually came out with ‘Let’s Makan’initiative, I was really happy and excited!

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