Eid al-Fitr 2019

Yesterday was our first day of Eid Mubarak – or you can call it Eid al-Fitr…

Well, if you search it in Google, the best library ever created for humankind in most parts of the world – it would tell you that Eid means Festival, and Mubarak means Celebration. Hence, it’s a festival of celebration. Quite a safe way to put it. I prefer Eid al-Fitr. Of course there’s no necessity in “preferring”. I just said it because I can. Anyway, Eid al-Fitr means Festival of Breaking the Fast.

Almost every year, we go to Mak’s kampong(village) on the first day except for last year, which we skipped – because according to mak no one was celebrating there last year, at that house – a house which told a thousand stories, a house which when you enter, you could feel the past. That’s how it is for me. The house is really old, really, extremely old. Everything there except for some new frames with Quran holy words and verses, the fridge, as well as the curtains (those green, net-ish, fly-ish with simple designs types) were not as old as the house. I doubt the stability of it each and every time I reach the house, and contemplate if it’s necessary or compulsory to climb up the house – but each and every year, I climb up (to be fair the green stairs are new – they are cement.), and each and every year, the faces become more and more familiar to me – the faces which I then recognize and register as family. I try recalling their relationships and who their partner or kids were – and gratefully, my puzzle was always very much assisted and solved by the colour of their Raya clothes. Until today, please forgive me, I don’t know all of their names. Therefore, it was a relief to me when my mother in law asked for the name of one of the kids, and it was a bigger relief when another asked the full name of another kid – and when someone eventually asked for my name. Phew!! I wasn’t that monstrous, after all. It’s really astonishing, knowing that the house is vacant the whole year through, until this very festival when everyone would be there, all for the purpose of gathering and to maintain Silaturrahim. (Silaturrahim simply means strengthening of ties. Source: https://www.muslimaid.org/media-centre/blog/the-strengthening-of-ties/) And these “everyone” come from different places of the country! I know some came all the way from the eastern region like Kedah and Penang, and many of us who were from Klang Valley. The effort itself is just precious. That house is not actually “visited” by relatives – but more like a house where everyone gathers, and settles down, and then after that walk to other surrounding houses for visits. It’s really special that way. I’m glad to be a part of this, though I AM afraid of possible worms or other creatures which would not hesitate to crawl up the house or hide in the bushes nearby. Two years ago, I actually bravely spent the night there with dear, and my mum in law, and her sister, Wak Jas. I think it’s better that I document the people that I can remember, for me to remember better!

Let me try to remember them one by one:

Wak Jas (that’s how my husband calls her) – she seems to be the most senior over there, in terms of age.

Bik Jenab – the pretty lady who bakes lots of nice cookies! I will be buying only from her when it comes to cookies from now. Unless, of course, my desires to buy other festive cookies kick in – and this is obviously normally when impulses win.

Paman – Bik Jenab’s husband, but he wasn’t there yesterday. He’s an expert in electrical tasks.

The three young girls and their two brothers – they were all brought up well by their late mother, I’m very sure. Kak Hawa had passed away due to leukemia. She was such a kind, nice lady – that was the impression she gave me. I really can’t recall their names but I know I can find their names out from FB. Shame on me. The girls have the best manners ever. I didn’t pay much attention to their brothers, but I know they were also the types to help out and comply with rules and laws.

One other lady with the name of Ana, is Bik Jenab’s younger daughter would normally hang out with the three sisters, but she was also not present yesterday because she wasn’t feeling well – woman stuff. Ana is extremely pretty.

Ana’s sister, Ani, who now has two boys – the younger boy was super adorable!

Awie – according to my husband, he’s a musician. He plays keyboards? And of course his wife with 3 kids.

There was another family whom I would remember wherever I see them – the other musician, Ajib (that’s how I hear dear says his name) and his wife and their kids. I would definitely remember his wife because she’s gorgeous! Ajib is Awie’s brother.

They have two more sisters, one is Ina, whom I believed I had seen for the first time, and I hope I got her name right, and another one Ikin, who was  not there, but someone I would recognize because I had seen her multiple times in the years before.

There is also another family with sugar glider pet. They are a harmonic family – where their children seemed well-mannered too. I remember my husband calling the guy Abang Nanang, though I am not a hundred percent certain if I got it right.

I hope I do not miss anyone out… the rest without the names mentioned, I blame it on my weak brain in remembering names, but I could also be lying because I remember every single person’s name of the sales people at my office (and I’m talking about the whole country!). I should blame it on my effort in remembering their names – but I would like to justify that I meet them once a year.

I was happy about the night before (this could be my advertisement break, though I’m not advertising anything – y’know, it’s the advertisement metaphor where it interrupts the movies)… The night before, dear and I had broken our final fast (is that how you put it?) for 2019 at Ikano Power Center Penang / Teochew Chendol. It’s adjacent – sort of, to Tesco, so we parked our car at Tesco – our habit – since we were familiar with it, and we were going to Tesco (as always), anyway. The reason we chose that location was me. I wanted the ring I saw few weeks back. It was just some Korean accessory, but I loved it (until I found out its flaw which I cursed myself for not inspecting it enough to pay the money, but soothed myself that its special character could be a personal mark, knowing that I couldn’t have possibly gotten it changed – I was lazy to even think about changing it). We were hungry, so we went to the nearby bakery to get some more bread – like it was going to help, because it really turned out to be just a waste of money – undelicious but fancy-looking Chocolate Bunny Bun (mine of course) and one mushroom chicken whatever bun. They were too expensive for their taste and their worth. After getting whatever that we needed from Tesco (I can’t remember what we got but I remembered the sadness I felt when we both felt that the hamper which I wanted to get for my parents in law was too expensive, though it was really not – it was just expensive for us. Why do I feel so poor these two months? I ended up getting my mother in law a shawl that she would wear, I hope. To wrap up our night, we got ourselves a super nice carpet. It was expensive too, of course, though I do not deny my overuse of the word “expensive”. I was satisfied. I treat it as a gift from my husband because he agreed that we buy it – we even negotiated the price to be 33.33% cheaper.

This year we are without my pretty sister in law, Lydia and her family, as well as my brother in law, Juan, and his family. There were just us – mak and abah, dear’s youngest brother Ain, and the two of us – no children. I’m not sure what’s the significance in me saying no children – because it’s totally unnecessary.

We sat on the floor to eat the raya food – Rendang Ayam and Rendang Daging, with Lemang and Ketupat, and Ayam Masak Kicap, with Kuah Kacang, and Sunquick Orange Juice.

Later that evening, we went to another house where we were served corn drinks and bananas (together with other Kuih Raya, of course…). It was a short visit, but my darling husband was pretty tired, so he slept in the car. I’m not sure why he was that sleepy, but he was. The same thing happened when we went to the final house for visiting – also one of my favorites because of the Ketupat Palas. It was heavenly! Too bad, dear didn’t get to taste any because he had chosen to sleep in the car. Well, I was almost alone most of the time, so, thankfully I had my Phabplus with me. It contains not only some downloaded movies, but also two very nice stories from Haruki Murakami: Kafka on the Shore, and IQ84. I had read Kafka on the Shore last year, and I’m now reading the other one. Reading indeed is a great hobby to pass time. Well, it gets you hooked sometimes.

We got home after midnight, and gosh! 4 days holidays – 4 days of freedom and happiness, just made my insides go wobbly with feelings made of paradise-ish ingredients.  I’ve not been really crazy about Raya, but I still am starting to love it, because of the get-together with the family, and the great food which I have guiltily love and guiltily not helped in any of the processes.

More to come!