When i was a kid, i was looking forward for the arrival of this month. It has a certain aura, excitement and challenge to it. Like most kids, i started fasting for only half a day to test my strength and will power. My mother said it was okay as i was only nine then. Eventually, i managed to fast a full day and become very proud that i could fast like an adult and breakfast with them at the same table. The night time my village friends and i would go to a mosque and surau to learn Terawikh prayer. We would chit chat after the prayers and joked around before going home. Life was simple then and full of joy. Relationship with the villagers got closer during this month as we practiced exchanging home cooked food, i was the delivery guy for my family. The night of Tujuh Likur was celebrated by putting up Tang Lung and playing firecrackers with my friends which includes some Chinese kids. Kind of think of it, now that i have grown up and know the rules, that was the right thing to do. But, i noticed kids nowadays still do it even in KL.
The best day was when the Eid or Hari Raya arrived which is on the 1st Syawal. Everybody got so excited the night before, cleaning the house and the compound, and my sisters and my mother spent the whole night cooking dish and cookies for guests coming to visit us the next day. Everybody got up early and put on their new clothes and went to the Surau for Eid prayer. After the prayer everybody shaked hands, some give angpau (money) away but i prefer receiving instead, what do you expect for a kid? I got plenty enough ang pau money to be stashed away in my piggy bank to buy stuff that i loved, without my mother knowing it of course. The Eid will be celebrated for at least two weeks i think.
Fast forward to the present day, Hari Raya or the Eid still is exciting but not as much as back then. I wonder what changed? I guess when we were kids everything would excite us as we were carefree. I had a lot of relatives back then and all of their sons and daughters were my friends. A lot of them have passed away since them and their kids had grown up and moved to other cities and lost touch. The biggest change for me is that both of my parents have passed away, my dad in 1985 and my beloved mother November 2007. Eventhough my brothers and sisters are still around, Hari Raya for me has lost its biggest reason to go back home.
Now that i have become a father of two, i could see in my kids' eyes the same excitement that i went through when i was a kid. Now it is not about me anymore. Driving home to my in-laws up north is such a drag with traffic jam up to Ipoh and Penang. The five hours journey is very taxing and costly now that the price of petrol had gone up along with the price of car repairs and tolls. Still, for the sake of my kids and wife, the journey is still worth it. I also use the Hari Raya break to unwind from the city life stress, do some fishing and countryside exploration. Perlis has wonderful scenery with imposing granite hills and mountains.
After two weeks break, i would be recharged and ready for KL life again. But sometimes, i wish the old days never change, i missed it so much. But like some famous saying goes " the only constant about life is change".
Selamat Hari Raya/ Happy Eid to all Muslims all over the world, may God bless you all.
No comments:
Post a Comment