Just got back from the market, with ingredients and goodies filling up the car.
The Eid preparations have begun. I’m just taking a breather here before they begin in full swing in a moment’s time. I’m expected downstairs in the kitchen at 1030 hours.
Things feel different this year. I look forward to celebrating Aidilfitri for once, which is a far cry from last time. I don’t know where all this festive spirit is coming from because I don’t think I made the most of the Ramadhan that’s almost ending. I did what I could, but I don’t think it matches up to my previous years. There was just too much on my plate. I’m just praying that Insya Allah what I was able to do will be enough, at least til next Ramadhan.
Maybe all this festivity is because of the atmosphere in the office. You hear Raya songs playing every day, and overhear the secretaries talk among themselves about where their kampungs are and when they’ll be heading back and what they’ll be cooking, and the excitement catches on. There’s also the shopping for food bit, when everyone you come across, sellers and strangers, wishing you a Selamat Hari Raya as they pass you your plastic bag and change. Although traffic jams are a major pain, seeing the exodus from the city to the kampungs always makes me smile at the thought of families reuniting. Listening to the radio on the way to work in the morning, you know the mood has begun when a DJ asks what’s the Malay word for ’slap’, which rhymes with ‘lemang’. There’s no such word, but ‘lemang’ pretty much shows what’s on his mind.
This Raya is a little marred though, because of what I know will be waiting for me once I get back. I’m already booked for next weekend at the office, and I know I’ve reached a new level of lame when my mum tells me we’re getting ‘daun palas’, and the first thing I think I hear is Palldas Arumugam (an evidence case).
But I don’t want to think about all that right now. You just have roll with this kind of thing sometimes.
As for now, I’m off to the kitchen. My ketupat-weaving needs some practice. Cooking is a settled matter. However I’ve just realised I haven’t thought of what to wear tomorrow.
Ah well.
Hoping your Eid will be a blessed and joyful one! I hope when the takbir begins tonight to greet the arrival of Syawal, it will mark the end of a victorious Ramadhan for you and your loved ones.
Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir Batin!
Enough said here.
Maaf zahir batin!
