Today strangers are family

I wanted to set the alarm at 6 am but I knew better than to trust myself not to hit the snooze button about six times before eventually waking up. So I set it at 5.23 am (it’s a meaningless habit of mine, planting odd numbers) and close enough, my body finally caved in to the persuasive clock after four ‘snoozing’ actions. Thank God for the chipsmore-ish hot water currently in effect, I managed to have a really good mandi sunat hari raya. After putting on a nice baju kurung, I had a bite of the ketupat and rendang ayam which we cooked last night (Actually I just helped blend the chilies and stir the gravy;p) before going down to pinch my sister’s brilliant rendang daging. Unlike me, she is an amazing cook. Her modest reply to compliments would be that she simply hentam-ed and threw every bit of this and that into her dishes, but well, her hentam-ings would always turn out into some scrumptious piece of art. My hentam-ings, on the other hand, would materialise in the form of tongue-flaming (not in an exciting way, not really) sambal sotong, bland briyani (tu pun dah pakai ready-made perencah!), soggy fries. I’m much better in the eating department.

Emulating the tradition of having family breakfast before the prayer, all (well, most) 2nd-year students gathered and gorged on a gorgeous spread of soto, nasi minyak, rendang, etc. So much so that we missed the rombongan to the mosque (via hired mashrutkas) for raya prayers. Erk. There were 15 of us (including a few 1st year students left behind as well) and we decided to cross to the other side of the road to mashrut no. 19’s final stop and hired one car. Upon looking at the long queue of waiting passengers however, we scrapped the plan and called for taxi instead, asking to pick us up in front of the hostel. Thus we went back and waited. And waited. The trip to the mosque takes abut 15 minutes; the prayer was due at 9, and we had about 20 minutes left.

Our guy-in-charge, Shafwan called again but was told that no calls had been made and whether we wanted them to dispatch the cars now. Na-ah, too late. Last resort- intercepting a mashrut going up to their last stop (a 19 or 75), an idea proven to be the easiest and should have been executed from the beginning. Hence we rode on a 75 and luckily managed to reach our destination just on time. The crowd was wonderful (I felt strangely at home and almost cried...the mercy of Allah is ceaseless), albeit myself being sandwiched in the truest sense by a Russian lady on the left and a Mongolian lady on the right. It wasn’t this crammed when I went for Eidul-adha prayer last year, I thought.

After we finished praying and listening to the khutbah, a round of hand-shaking and cheek-brushing followed. This one young woman (of Armenian origin, I would guess) offered us dates. Meanwhile, one mak cik handed round 1 rouble coins as sadaqah and I got one. It reminded of my 1st Syawal last year, when a Russian guy on the street wished me and my friend well and gave 10 roubles to each of us. We did not understand a word he said, with the exception of ‘Musliman’ and ‘Ramadhan’. We need not to. This day… today… is one of those days when even utter strangers can be your family. Everybody wishes you with a smile and you couldn’t resist smiling at everybody yourself. Haha. There’s just such a good vibe around you can’t help but be merry. Even if the devils are back.


Me, Fatin, Farah, Fahida, and Baya in the morning


Rombongan kanak-kanak lambat ke masjid- waiting for mashrut 19/75; the weather was wet and cloudy, though not very cold.


Rombongan pulang dari masjid- the location was in a kampung neighbourhood; walking back to main street gave me sort of a homey feeling, like walking back from the mosque to my grandparents' house in Kampung Selamat. =)


Taking picture with some of the juniors (plus 1 senior). Pak cik Ruski ambil. Gegar la pak cik...

ps: All pictures courtesy of Fatin's camera