And finally, Valentine’s Day has kicked in. Gosh! Just the thought of the “red theme” everywhere, with excited bu couples gives me a headache.
I guess it is because this Valentine thing has never caught on with Ugandans here even if they “tie tie” on it and get excited as the day draws closer.
I think there is just something weird about “forcing life” that it looks pretty odd despite the endless attempts to make it work.
For example, last year around this time, a colleague at work was “lucky”- as many would regard it, to have a gift hamper delivered to her. It was a big package with a bouquet of flowers and other stuff, you know?
I think it was meant to be a surprise but the chick scattered and hid in the washrooms for about 20 minutes after the stuff being delivered. After which she stepped out, picked up the phone and called the guy to quarrel over the embarrassment he had exposed her to.
Although I laughed so hard, I felt for the dude. Poor guy trying to force himself into this “Valentine’s jazz” only for cold water to be poured on him! People can be local!
Then, there was this guy who was stuck in oba three situations? Just know the dude did not work in the name of catering for his three ladies. At one point he was having lunch with one, then dinner with another on top of having to endure the pain of getting another lie to dodge some calls as he manoeuvred through the day, katemba just!
Now all this makes you wonder why someone has to go through the hassle. Get the right red attire, set aside some dimes to celebrate, buy gifts, endure the stress of composing catchy messages as a build up to the day, blah blah blah… As if that is the only day for one to reflect what lies deep inside their hearts?
At this rate, people should just allow and let this trend go or better still have it apply to the people that initiated it, as we stick to what we can celebrate the Ugandan way. I mean the Christmas and Easter holidays simanya Liberation Day, Tarehe Sita and Independence days where we even get the chance to catch some drama from the opposition and forget about the unending circus in the name of going with the flow on Valentine’s Day, huh?