How's your raya celebration?

One day, 2 days, a week, a month or maybe a whole year? I had a brief conversation just now with a colleague. He told me that here in Kedah people usually celebrate raya for only 2 days, unlike in Johor or KL or other parts of Malaysia who would usually celebrate this happy occasion for a month. The way he put it sounded like "you people like to have fun while we are more down-to-earth kind of people" or something to that effect. I have to say I was bit intimidated.

Well, I told him Kedahans may celebrate raya for 2 days because most of them do not need to go out of town to be reunited with friends and relatives. Relatives are mostly a stone throw away. For people like me who are hundreds of miles away from my family, the 2 days are only good for travelling to and from my hometown. For those who are working, the best time to celebrate would be weekends, and there are usually four weekends in a month. So how is it possible for people like me to celebrate raya in 2 days? Maybe my dear colleague should get out of Kedah more often and experience for himself what 30 days of Syawal is worth!

Coming back to my raya, it is always a happy moment for the whole family. It is one of the few occasions that we get to come together and renew and "refine" our relationship. The first day has always been the day for visiting close relatives. Since my parents passed away, not many relatives would come to our house especially on the first day. A bit sad actually when you realise that you are not significant after your parents are gone. But on the other hand, it gives us the chance to do the visiting - something that we did not get to do much before.

The food? Of course. It won't be raya without food, and I mean plenty of good food. We had ketupat, rendang, the delicious ayam masak merah (which I cooked) and laksa johor (Ngah's specialty). But we did not get to savour them much as we all went "beraya". So the food was carried forward to the second day.

The second day is the day for rest. Well, not actually. Although we did not go out to visit families and friends, they instead came over to our house. Dozens of them. It was quite chaotic but a pleasant one. Children were running around, ketupat and laksa were just enough for whoever that was lucky to enjoy them. Anyway, I thank GOD that we did not waste anything. But the best dish of the day was of course, gulai BAUNG. I managed to grab a few of the fish when I went to the market the day before raya. The lorry delivering the fish had just arrived and I did not waste even a second to grab hold of the still alive-and-kicking fish. Gulai baung was the best raya dish for me this year.

We left for KL on the third day unsatisfied as there were many more relatives that we did not visit. But due to time constraint we had to shelve it for next year or whenever time permits. If you realise, the visits that we made had only been to relatives, not friends. So is 2 days possible to do everything?

Lastly to my family and friends, I would like to wish all of you SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI, MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN.

Selamat Hariraya Aidilfitri

"Balik kampung oooo balik kampung hati girang...". Musim-musim nak raya ni this would be the song that many would want to hear. The song does not actually mention anything about hariraya tapi tak tau camno it creates that strange but nice feeling about going home to celebrate raya. Thanks to arwah Sudirman.

Today is my last day before cuti for raya. Tu pun tak sampai esok lagi, petang ni dah nak "kabur", kata orang Indon. Going home for raya to me would mean making several stop-overs before I finally sampai Segamat, my beloved kampung. Oh yes, although I may be going back to many places (refer to my earlier entry some time ago), Kg. Lubok Batu, Segamat, Johor is the real home for me. Yang lain tu tumpang rumah orang je. Anyway, I'll be going down to Penang first to meet up with friends, lepak-lepak and of course the most important thing, makan-makan. Then proceed to KL to join my other siblings before we finally head for home.

Parents would always be the main factors for most people to balik kampung. it use to be the same for me. But since our parents are no longer with us, kami adik-beradik have agreed that everyone would try to come home for raya and celebrate together. Kalau tak memang tak kenal anak cucu. This has been practiced for some time now and Alhamdullillah setakat ni.

As for me, this is the time that I very much look forward to. Being far away from other siblings and relatives, I'm always left out in many occasions. So reunions like this are so meaningful to me.

Lastly, I'd like to wish all my friends and whoever that is reading this page SELAMAT HARIRAYA AIDIL FITRI MAAF ZAHIR BATIN. If you are driving home for raya, do drive carefully. Stop at rest areas yang ada orang and rest or take a short nap. Take care.

"tukar dulang" and lailatulkadar

"Tukar dulang". It's something that would often happen in the month of ramadhan. Not that this does not happen hari-hari lain. Tapi bulan posa le everyone akan menguji culinary skills. I'm no exception. Will try and find time to test whatever dishes I fancy. Then bagi lak kat neighbor. Cukup garam ke tak, tu lain cerita. Seronok lagi if your plate is returned with something in it. Waah bertambah rezeki.

But yang tak best ada gak. Last weekend I made roti jala and chicken curry. Intention - nak pulang pinggan mangkuk neighbor yang keep multiplying each day. Dah siap masak, all set to go, tengok-tengok negihbour takde. In fact the whole family went away for the weekend. So I was left with a plate full of roti jala which I still have in my fridge. Takkan nak buang pulak. Looks like I'll be having roti jala for my buka posa for the next few days.

21 ramadhan. Already? So nak kena start tunggu lailatulkadar. I remember a story masa kecik-kecik dulu of a man who went to take his bath kat perigi. He hanged his sarong kat batang kelapa. Abis mandi tengok kain dia dah duduk kat puncak pokok kelapa. It seemed the tree sedang rukuq masa dia letak kain dia tu. Betul ke tak, Wallahu a'lam. Anyway, lailatulkadar is said to be the time when angels would come down to earth and pray together with the human beings for keberkatan bulan ramadhan. Only the privileged and chosen ones yang akan mendapat nikmatnya. Of course le yang chosen ones ni bukan calang-calang orang...

So tak payah nak cari bawah rumah ke, bawah katil ke, tunggu pokok sujud ke or air paip beku ke. Yang penting buat ibadah dan amal dengan ikhlas sebanyak mungkin whenever and wherever, and it will come to you, InsyaAllah.

Ehh, bunyi macam ustazah je...

posa, ais & sakit tekak...

It was the 15th. of ramadhan. Pi le buka posa dengan kekawan kat luar i.e. medan selera kat Sungai Petani. I happened to be in Sungai Petani because I was conducting a course for the AADK's officers. After so many moons tak minum ais, hari tu nak sangat minum kopi-O ais. Sedap pulak tu. Tambah pulak the day was quite sunny. So iced drink certainly looked yummy.

Now terima le padahnya. Dah dua hari tekak perit. Although I still have my voice (hopefully janganle sampai hilang suara pulak!) malas nak cakap dengan orang.

Lesson learnt: jangan dok tergoda dengan bebenda yang bukan kebiasaan especially dalam bulan posa ni. Tu baru sikit je....

buka posa and kuih raya

It's the 11th day of Ramadhan. Not much has changed - the weight I mean. Ingatkan bulan posa ni bolehle reduce sikit weight. But until today I don't feel any lighter. Macamana le nak turun weight kalau dok makan yang best-best je. Nasi is a must. If I don't cook the lauk I would stop by at Laka Kona (a stall that I frequent because the dishes memang best) to buy something for buka posa. Sometimes got carried away bila tengok banyak sangat yang berkenan di hati.

So far buka posa mesti ada nasi because I need the energy and also because I am a nasi person. Cannot go a day without it. (But today I'm thinking of trying a different diet. Will see how it goes...).

Of course le before Ramadhan lagi the raya cookies dah already in circulation - untuk tempahan. Kat staffroom tu all sorts of samples ada. From cookies to kerepek to cakes to.... endless. Yang ready to go pung ada. Can't say I'm not at all interested. Order a few types of cookies. Tapi this time I kena control myself. Beli only to bawak balik kampung. For me, takde pung takpe. Gipun if things go well, akan cuba buat sendiri. Lama tak buat I think it would be fun to bake our own cookies. Kalau buat sendiri, ada rasa kasih sayang. That's what I told my students tadi during SDG session. I asked them if them baked their own raya cookies. Of coursele bebudak sekarang mana tau buat suma tu. Main tunjuk-tunjuk je.

Although I'm not into baking but I'm actually looking forward to making my own raya cookies. Hope this will really happen...

of ramadhan and banjir...

Already the 9th day of Ramadhan! Just how fast time flies without us noticing it. Firstly let me wish everyone HAPPY RAMADHAN. A bit late though but not too late I hope. Except for my cell's ringing tone, I haven't heard anybody playing the raya songs yet. So I assume the raya mood is not in the air yet!

Talking about Ramadhan, the first thing that often strikes me is the pasar ramadhan. Tak baik kan? Ingat food dulu. Patutnya ingat nak buat ibadat bebanyak. Anyway, can't say I forget about that totally. Sunat Tarawih, although I can't say I perform it religiously, but I do perform that ibadat as often as I could. Generally the ibadah will always be extra in ramadhan. (Kalau selalunya duk perform subuh gajah, bulan posa ini InsyaAllah subuh on time. Although ada gak miss sebab tak bangun sahur!).

My first Ramadhan this year was spent in "Paris" with friends and foster family. Seronok. I always look forward to spending Ramadhan at kampungs. As I mention earlier, the attraction would be the pasar ramadhan. Here I can guarantee the foods are mostly awesome. Murah pulak tu! So tak sah kalau tak beli, and beli banyak. Semua nak makan!

The first night of Ramadhan pi sunat tarawih kat mosque sebelah rumah. Unlike several years ago when I last did my tarawih there, the mosque this time was not really packed. There was no jemaah praying at the corridors.

After prayer we, Cikwang, K and I went for supper in town. All of a sudden rain poured so heavily that we got stuck there. A bit about this restoran rimba where we lepak. The decor was OK lah kot although not to my taste. First impression, quite convincing. Tapi bila order, we had to wait for about half an hour baru tiba. Itupun salah and kena tukar. Cikwang punya mee bandung tasted sweet that tak larat nak makan. K's mee maggi mamak didn't look mamak. No second visit for me.

Back at the house, the rain was pouring heavily that the drain had overflowed (betul ke?)and the water flowed into the house. When we got home Makngah, Rina, Toksu and her tennant were busy mopping and scooping the water into buckets. This was the second time such incident happened it seems.

That night we stayed up very late to make sure that the floor was dry. Cikwang was busy cooking in the kitchen while the rest of us dried the floor. Anyhow, the best part was sahur (again about makan!). We had kari tulang (cuunnnn), and daging masak taucu (resepi K yang first time buat and it turned up quite okay).

The next day, the buka puasa menu was sambal ikan billis potai, falatok masak style K, leftovers from sahur and off course those that we bought at pasar ramadhan.

There goes my first day of posa. Awesome.

"Am I getting blurrer and blurrer????"

What's wrong with me? A few weeks ago I knocked a mirror off a display cabinet at a department store. Then last week I went into a men's toilet (of course without realising it!). I went to visit a student who was doing her practical training at one the companies situated in one of the new buildings in Penang. At the end of themeeting, I thought that I needed to ease myself first before proceeding to the next stop.

The signs at the top of the door showed that lady's was on the right and the gent's was on the left. Without hesitation I just turned to the right. The doors to both the lady's and the gent's were wide open. Nobody was around, it seemed. So there I went. Once done, I opened the door with the intention to wash my hands at the wash basin. To my surprise, there stood a man, back toward me, doing his business at one of the "I-don't-know-what-it's-called" things that was meant for men - things that I thought was tempat wudu' because tak ada bowls like what they usually have in men's rooms.

Although I cannot see my own face, but I can imagine what I had looked like then - shocked and embarassed and other unimaginables. I walked out so fast without washing my hands, never turning back even once and reached my car in no time.

GOD, what's wrong with me??? Is it the age or is it GOD's way of making my life more interesting by giving me the opportunity to experience things that I thought would only happen to other people, not me. So far things that happen have been those that I can laugh at. Hopefully the next would still be something cheerful to brighten this dull sintok-life.

A friend told me that the men's toilet is always on the right and the lady's is on the left. Really? Never knew about this before...