Same old, same old...

Friday, November 12, 2004

Hi guys. Tomorrow's most probably gonna be raya, right? And as usual, my "reduced" family (i.e. without my brother and sister who're in UK) are preparing for it. Kuih raya? Check. Baju raya? Everybody else, check, but not me. I didn't make any new baju melayu just for raya. Kemas rumah? Partly, check, coz it's already tidy enough. :)

I know most ppl will disagree with me here, but don't you guys think that raya seems sooo routine? I mean, you do the same things year after year after year. Yes, it is an escape from our normal 9-to-5 job, we get to meet our family, friends, eat lotsa food, yada yada... but still, it's the same old thing every year. At least that's what I feel.

I think I can expect what my family will do every raya. Firstly, before raya, we'll be preparing for it, by doing the things I said in the first paragraph. Then, on the raya day itself, after solat raya in our masjid near our home, we'll go balik kampung, first to my grandma on my mother's side (KL), then my grandma on my father's side (Batu Laut, near Banting). Along the way from KL to Batu Laut, we'll visit my aunts' and uncles' and atok sedara's houses.

Then, on the 2nd day of raya, we'll first go visit my grandpa's grave, then go visit all my atok sedara's (or whom we Jawa's call embah) on my father's side. On the 3rd day of raya, we'll go to Johor and visit my mother's cousins and uncles and aunts. The end.

And next year's raya, we'll repeat those routine once again. And the following raya, again. And again, again, again...

I don't hate raya, nor do I find it too boring (well, it's a weeeee bit on the boring side for me, especially when we visit my father's and mother's uncles and aunts houses), but I'm just saying that its always the same old routine. If only raya was unpredictable, always something new happening... Wow, that would be something very exciting!

Well, at least this year we're doing something new. Tonight, on raya's eve, my father will be inviting our masjid's jemaah to come by our house during their usual yearly procession all around the neighbourhood for takbir raya. Of course, we'll be preparing some food for them.

And also, this year, my sister will not be able to enjoy her raya too much, coz she's currently in the middle of her SPM. Pity her, having to spend raya in the midst of SPM. But again, at least that's something new. Due to that, my parents will not spend too much time visiting our relatives in order to avoid distracting my sis from her studies. So, instead of the normal three days, we'll spend maybe only two days at kampung.

Wishing everybody a happy (and hopefully exciting!) aidilfitri! Eid mubarak! :)


Posted by Nikman Shah at 6:23 am
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