The Same Yet Different

Every single year, I will get an Eid card from H all the way from England. He Always makes these ‘home-made’ cards where there will be a picture of him and family in Eid attire in front - same man, same wife; different year, different attire, different pose. And every year, I am reminded again and again of what could have been... and that it could have been me instead in that Family Portrait.

Every year, I will get a call from England, be it from H in those days of yore [except he called from Ireland before he moved to England] or from my good mate or someone else. Sorry I missed your call dear!

Every year, we will boil instant ketupat and you’d think we’d be masters at it already. After all, what could be easier than popping packets of rice into boiling water and let them grow and transform into fat and round and nice bags of ketupat eh. But no, this year, they didn’t turn out that well. Oh, they were still edible but a bit soggy at the edges. But we finished them all, all eight packets of ketupat! And I actually told Mummy before she popped in the eighth packet that surely seven was more than enough!

Every year, I will attempt my Syawal fast on the second or third day of Syawal [while I’m still in the mood for fasting! Provided I can fast of course!] and I started it on Wednesday but by noon, I had a slight fever and gosh, there was so much wind in my tummy! [I blame it on my endless gorging of coconut-enriched food on Eid...] To top it, the clinic was closed too due to the festive season. So there goes my hope of finishing my six days on Monday evening. Oh well, man proposes, God disposes...

Almost every year, Mummy will not be able to finish her month of fasting, no thanks to her stomach ulcer and/or gastritis. This year, she had a bad case of food poisoning, so bad that she missed the last three days of fasting. We even brought her to Gleneagles at dawn on the day before Eid but thankfully the sleepy doctor said she need not be admitted. [I already had visions of celebrating Eid in the hospital looking after Mummy but if it came to that, I accept it because she’s my mother and she’d do the same for me]. She recovered since that visit, syukur alhamdulillah - and now I think I’ve gotten her wind.

Every year, my aunt and uncle will celebrate Eid at one of her children’s house. Last year, they celebrated it in Kiwi-land. This year, it was in Shah Alam. And since I haven’t seen them since Eid two years ago, I was a bit shocked to see how aged and fragile they looked this time.

Every year, there will be insensitive people who ask me the million-dollar question of when I am going to tie the knot. This year, because my paths have yet to cross with such insensitive oafs, I have been spared that question. So far. [Although I almost panicked at my cousin’s place when my aunt called to chat with me].

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[to the tune of I Can See Clearly Now]

I can see clearly now, the haze is gone
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark gray smog that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day

Yes, the haze is gone... for now.

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Belated Footie Footnote: Missed the Arsenal-Reading match ‘cause was back at HQ. Anyway, as we all know, Arsenal celebrated Wenger’s birthday in style. For full report, go here. Man of the match? Fab Fab!