Countdown to Raya: One - Meaningful Eid~

After 2 years celebrating the 1^st of Syawal with only friends in a foreign country, I will finally get the chance to celebrate this festive celebration with my loved ones back in Malaysia. I’m now safe and sound in my kampung in Kuala Lipis, busying myself doing all sorts of chores with my supercouzies prior to Hari Raya! There will be 2 more days until the 1^st of Syawal and right now there are the families of my mum (Mak Ngah), Mak De and Mak Tam with my one of Mak Long’s sons, Amier, supergranddad and supergrandma…. which total the number of 21 people in the house! We’re still waiting for the families of Mak Long, Mak Teh, Pak Anjang and Makcik Dina to arrive and that will bring ‘Keluarga Haji Latif’ to the number of 37 members~ Just imagine the chaos that’s waiting to happen on the eve of Hari Raya when everyone’s here!

3 days here and I’ve done almost everything that’s need to be done, from replacing the curtains (I now vow that I’m not going to build a house with many windows and doors~ LOL!), replacing the cushion covers, cleaning the house to folding the clothes of 21 people! (With the massive development of technological appliances nowadays, I wonder when a machine for folding clothes will be invented! Soon hopefully!). Anyways, while doing all these chores, my mind was brought back to the best Hari Raya experience I’ve had. To some, the best Hari Raya would be the day when everyone gathering together, doing house chores, eating lemang and ketupat and playing bunga api and firecrackers but to me, my best Hari Raya experience is the exact opposite of that…..

If I were to name the best Hari Raya I’ve experience, it would be the Syawal that I spent last year…..

Syawal fall during the summer holidays for all Muslim residents in the UK and for us, foreign students in the country who lived on campus, we knew that it would be a very quiet memory as the campus were nearly empty as everyone was back home for holidays. That’s why for most of us, purchasing the ticket to Malaysia for Hari Raya was worth it. Some who could not afford the ticket to Malaysia resulted in getting the tickets to London, to celebrate Eid with the Malaysian Embassy.

In the case of my housemates and I, we were just back from touring Europe and the idea of purchasing tickets to even the city centre is a BIG NO – NO!!! LOL!~ But that was not the case for Fiza and Syaz. Fiza went to London because her family was coming and that her aunt’s family lived in London. Syaz travelled to London with all expenses covered as she was accompanying Meng to fetch her family…. And so, there were only Nadhia and I left to spent the Hari Raya together. Two housemates spending Hari Raya in a nearly empty campus!

That might sound dreadful to you guys but both of us were determined to liven up the mood of Raya and so, both of us went shopping 5 days before Raya. On the last day of Ramadhan, we broke our fast together quietly thinking of how our 1^st Syawal is going to be. I still remember myself cooking masak singgang for buka puasa with other dishes. After prayers that night, both of us rolled our sleeves up and started ranting the kitchen for our Eid preparation. There were only two of us but we managed to cooked biskut cornflakes, tiramisu, rendang ayam, kuah lodeh and kuah kacang… all from scratch! Even the nasi impit and kerisik was done manually! While peeling and cutting, we played a Takbir Raya video from Youtube and without realizing it, both of us were silent, cooking with our families back home in mind. After a few rounds of the takbir video, we moved all our utensils to the common room and we started preparing in front of my laptop, watching Raya programmes available online (Thank God for the internet!). At about 3 in the morning, everything was done and we took turn ironing our baju raya sent by our families. We spent that time talking about our Raya experiences since we were kids when we realized how adult we have been.

Rendang ayam~


Kuah Lodeh and Kuah Kacang on the stove~~

Nasi Impit~~

Making the Nasi Impit~~

Takbir~~

The next morning, I woke up to my handphone’s alarm and on the way to the bathroom downstairs, Nadhia who’s just woke up opened her bedroom door. We smiled upon looking at each other and wished each other ‘Selamat Hari Raya’ with a very meaningful look. We knew in our hearts at that time that on that Hari Raya, we are each other’s family and we would try to make that Hari Raya a very a memorable one for each other. After putting on our baju raya, we joined the raya prayers with some of the Malaysians and Syrians left on campus. We mingled while eating kuih raya sent by our respective families and then…… we were back in our common room looking at each other, not knowing how to spend the rest of the day. We finally decided on stuffing ourselves with food while watching raya programmes online and so we did. That went on until the third of Raya when Syaz, Fiza and our other Malaysian friends came back from London. It was very festive after that. We hold an open house for everyone and the loneliness felt on Raya morning disappeared.

Raya prayers~~

Those left on campus~~

This year, both Nadhia and I aren’t housemates anymore. We’re back in Malaysia, living in separate apartments and we hardly see each other. However, I’m very sure that the Raya experience we had last year will have a permanent place in our memories. Nadhia, if you’re reading this, I would like to wish you Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Batin. Thank you for the Raya memories last year and I hope that we’ll stay in touch for the longest time! Wait for my call/text on Raya Eve! Love ya ex-housemate… and will always miss ya!

Nadhia and I... 1st of Syawal 2009~
Memories remain...