Eid Mubarak

Today is the last working day before the long holidays of Deepavali and Aidil Fitri. Syawal moon sighting will be done on Sunday evening although with the current haze, I doubt it is possible to sight anything!

Am going back to HQ this Sunday. The plan is for my parents to come and pick me up on Sunday Morning [knowing them, they'd probably come knocking at 7 am when everyone is still asleep!] - and bring along a new packet of rice for me. Heh. Call me spoilt or pampered, but I have tonnes of things to bring back home - I think this is how Santa Claus must feel like - and simply can't [and refuse to] take the public transportation back to HQ while at the same time trying to hang to them all and making sure I've somehow not managed to lose something along the way [which is pretty normal for a scatterbrain like me!].

We have Always celebrated Eid in Kuala Lumpur and I can't Imagine celebrating it elsewhere [well, apart from England]. Over the years though, my spirit and enthusiasm of celebrating Eid have become more and more subdued. Perhaps it's because I'm no longer a kid and hence no longer eligible for Eid money [duit Raya] and in fact must fork out my own money to give to my nieces and nephews. Who ever said growing up is fun? And hey, since I'm single, I must and should be flush with money, right? Wrong!

I found it more fun to celebrate Eid as a student in England - we would go visiting each other at night [if we had lectures during the day] or during the weekends; Lin would decide to bake a cake [her mother's recipe] and I would help out [you'll be glad to know the cake Always turned out fine somehow!]; we would boil instant ketupat [thank God for such inventions!] the night before and ate it on Eid morning and lunchtime with some flossed meat [serunding] that Lin's mother sent over. Yes, no Eid money received on the day itself, no fire crackers in hand that we could play, and celebrating Eid far away from family could be a tad sad but we were determined to have fun anyway and we did.

Nowadays, I don't quite look forward to Eid, what with the financial obligations [thankfully it's only once a year - this must have been how my parents felt then!] and the dread I Sometimes feel about meeting some relatives [and siblings] during Raya [what with the inevitable endless questions of when I am ever going to tie the knot. Like are you going to help finance my wedding anyway? Sheesh!]. Do you now wonder why I prefer to stay in during Eid and why I don't take super duper extended leave during Eid?

I think Abah looks foward to Raya and having all his children come home. But I don't quite see the point of them coming when they come empty-handed. Oh I never expected to get anything from them [I'm realistic. After all, I'm only their half-sister. I don't think two of them had ever given me Eid money when I was a kid, yes, they can be quite thoughtless siblings. And I Always envy those who get Eid money and presents from their elder siblings 'cause I never get anything] but surely it's not too much to buy your old man something, especially if it's only once a year?

Our usual Raya rituals: day before Raya will be spent boiling instant ketupat and atending to last-minute preparations. Abah will go for his takbir the night before Raya and come back late enough for me to be already in bed ['cause I have to wake up early the next morning and help Mummy!].

Raya morning: Our usual Raya morning menu is ketupat with lodeh [mixed vegetables cooked in coconut milk], chicken curry and fried chicken [don't ask me why, it's staple Raya celebration food for us]. Then it's off for Raya prayers. Upon return from Raya prayers, it's time to seek forgiveness. My aunt and family will come visiting after that. Raya afternoon: tired of waiting for visitors and stuffing ourselves again and again with ketupat etc, we will all have afternoon nap...

Wishing everyone a blessed Eid!