My space.

(brother Imraan high on something...Eid Day)

Leaving Kota Damansara at 5:30pm we zoomed along the highway feeling all happy and silly and hyper. Time to balik kampung! time to visit our family again! (yes, I was even prepared to pretend like I hadn't seen my mummy and Abu for ages....all for the sake of the 'real feeling' of balik kampung...) At Iftaar time we stopped at Seremban highway resthouse for a bite. It was here that I finally saw the masses of people heading back for their respective villages. And they only represented a small percentage I am sure, but The place was packed!! and i'm not even just talking, it was literally smashed sardines in the place.

Uh-oh, I think to myself. How'm I gonna get my cuppa? I WANT MY CAPPUCINO FOR IFTAAR!! glancing at my watch at panic I see that there's only 15 minutes left!! whattodowhattodowhattodo?

After 10 seconds of agonizing I told my sis to queue up for the coffee whilst I would try to go and grab some food. My aunt, of course, was not with us, as she had so wisely foreseen this and offered to stay in the car and guard it from hooligans *rollseyes* whilst we youngsters faced the gore and muck of the crowd.

At first I turned to the KFC. I thought that maybe I would just get some sandwiches. But when I went there I found that the line of people reached all the way out the door and down the stairs! Okay next option. Food court. I cringed. Foodcourts on highway restplaces are not exactly the best place to eat...

Pattering down the steps I was confronted by another wave of humanity. It was all a-jostle down there. Timidly I lined up with all the other hungry fasting people...Standing there and watching the spectacle before me, a saying idly flitted thru my mind.."A hungry man makes an angry man". I think that for that moment all fasting Muslims in that place shed their good manners just for the sake of grabbing the next plate of rice before the next person. I personally abhor any type of pushing and shoving whilst standing in line, and I absolutely HATE any sort of uncivilized and wild behaviour when it comes to food!! It really puts a person down. Anyway, I finally got mines - slapped down in front of me with my money snatched from my hand and the change flung to me across the counter.

"Where's my chicken sandweeeessshhhh" My sister whined. "I want one!!"

And so I went to stand in line at KFC...at this time I wasn't even hoping to get anything into my gut by iftaar time lol.....after half an hour of standing in line I finallyyy reach the front. I think it was a shock to my brain to be suddenly confronted with the option of getting my food after standing in a food scented restaurant and going weak in the knees for over half an hour! But whatever it was, my previous decision of 'just getting a sandwich' flew out of my mind and 5 minutes later I walked out with potato wedges,fries,three soft drinks,three sandwiches and RM40 poorer.

(cousin Zahirah on Eid Day)

But I have to say it was nice eating out there in the carpark. Everyone around was breaking their fast also and I suddenly felt a surge of happiness at not being the only fasting human being around for as far as my eyes could see. Other muslims were breaking their fast also!! I am not the only one! It was a blissful moment...

Back on the highway the soda and food got to our brains and we began acting wacky. Singing 'baaaalikkk kampuunnggg' in tuneless voices we laughed and giggled and cracked silly jokes. At one point there was a bus next to us and the driver was staring down at us. By now my sister was obviously high on coke and she gave the driver a HUGE smile before we zoomed off. Not five minutes later the bus came back alongside our car and the driver gave a friendly two blows on his horn whilst waving at us before zooming off. Well!! that certainly set us off!! That simple happiness of sharing a smile with a stranger on the road is just exhilarating!

(cousin maisarah on Eid Day)

On the morning of Eid My family bundled themselves into the car to go to the Musalla and I almost broke my neck in the process........thanks to the stiletto heels I had just bought. I have to say that the Eid Khutbah bored me to tears.....sad right? But who can blame me!! we went to make salaat at one of those PAS places (to be with the other relatives) and I was left speechless when the Khateeb decided to talk about his politics on the minbar!! ya Allah drop it off will you!! for anyones information I am sick and tired of hearing about Malaysian politics!!! and especially from the PAS point of view, which, unfortunately is what I hear most of the time since most of my relatives are affiliated with them, it's agonizing!!

After exchanging a few hugs and half hearted 'Selamat Hari Raya's ' (I was really put off by the khutbah) we came home with my 101 relatives to partake in breakfast....and for me to turn hundreds of ringgit even MORE poorer with my little cousins asking for duit raya. 'Not fair!' I told my aunt ' How comes I dont get duit raya? never mind if I am grown up already, what about all those kiddy years that I missed having eid in Malaysia?' ( I was joking of course, but hey, no harm in trying lol) But I only got a neat pinch for all my efforts haha...

And then afterwards came the most BORING and repetitive part of the eid. VISITING! Ya Allah, not that I dont like visiting all these unknown and unheard off relatives, but just dont give me an overdose of it...dont stuff it all down my throat in the tiny timespan of just one day!! We were out from 10 in the morning up to 10 at night visiting and visiting...and eating and eating....and supressing belly aches...and having eardrums popped with the whining and exploding of fireworks...and developing cricks in my neck from the constant bending to kiss hands...by 5 o'clock that evening I had developed an allergy to hands but what to do? I must be polite and kiss more..and more..and more...at one point I tried to do what I saw my cousins do, sniff the hand instead (I hear this is a malay way of kissing lolololol) but after one whiff of a hand I threw that method out the window..

By the time I got back home that night I made up my mind :

NEXT YEAR I WILL GO TO SOME GOD FORSAKEN PLACE AND HAVE A PICNIC ON EID. ON MY OWN!!

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