Flashback #3 - 1 Syawal 1428 Hijrah

Its the 1st day of Syawal. Its Raya today.

My feelings.... its a mixed one... Am happy that we gonna have lots of family gatherings and lots and lots of festive food. But, also sad... leaving the wonderful month of Ramadhan - the month that really made me 'muhasabah diri' and lots of 'keinsafan'. (he he macam poyo je bunyi kan?) But, thats the fact la. Though I am the 'gila-gila' type but I always examine myself, looking at my self performance towards other living things, especially human!

Though I slept almost early morning, but still I woke up early for the special day. Had my 'mandi sunat hari raya fitrah', put on my best dress and ready for the Solat Raya at the mosque... nevertheless, had a slight misunderstanding with one of my two brothers and did not go to the mosque! There goes my 1st Syawal prayer... quite sad, but...hmmm don't wanna make the matter worst since he came here only 4-5 times a year, so bear with his behaviour! Malas le nak gaduh di pagi raya niiii.....! Nanti nak maaf-maaf pulak, macam tak real!

I then went straight to the kitchen to prepare the chocolate topping for my Arabian Chocolate Cake. While in the middle of doing so, those that went for the prayer came back. Everybody sibuk nak beraya... takut nanti orang datang tak sempat. So we started the usual raya rituals, asking for forgiveness from my mom. As the eldest I had to start. As usual too, this is always the most touching moment and what Raya really means. Definitely lots of kisses, tears shed free flow la... and nieces and nephews started to be curious and the chaos decellerate... Then of course there'll be someone who will break the ice and started to make silly jokes merely to bring us back to reality and not to be too emotional...he he...

For us this time. it was my niece, Nor Naily Aishah, the main ice breaker. She was throwing tantrum the time we were distributing the 'duit raya'. Know why? She wanted to put the green packets in a pocket like what her brother did, putting all them in the pocket of his baju melayu. Of course the baju melayu got three pockets, but hers is the modern baju kurung, with lining and all, where got pocket ma? So, of course this little cutie started to cry and almost tearing her nice baju kurung. At last, she just threw all the green packets that we gave her. Refused to hold them, though her mum had prepared her a nice pink girlish handbag full of sequins! She wanted a baju melayu! Kids will be kids. Anyway, some of us still continue with the 'forgiveness seeking session'... he he

Our first guest was my auntie with her children and grandchild. Then an old friend of mine that I mentioned in my earlier postings entitled Old School Friends. Well, he and his family came. I was so surprised to see him, now almost 'botak'! He was the Assistant Head Prefect and we had not met for the last 28 years! Imagine. It was indeed a meaningful Raya for me. Then many of my ex-classmates during secondary school who are now residing in KL came. All are actually my Chinese friends. Well, we only had five Malays in my class, and out of that only two Malay girls, including me. So, of course most of my friends are Chinese. We had a jolly good time, talking none stop. Everybody wants to speak. Everybody wants to reminince the good old schooling days. Such a jolly good time. My neighbours came too, also Chinese... Most of my Malay neighbours had gone out of town anyway. By evening, we almost collapsed. Had a short rest and after the Maghrib prayer, we went to my auntie's house in Putra Height.

End of my day 1 of Syawal 1428.

To all the ardent readers of my blog, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri 1428 Hijrah. Maaf Zahir dan Batin.

Kalambicara signing off from bicara...till then...