14 days to Syawal

Salam Ramadhan people. Semalam on the way to Batu Uban, Penang, Radio Sinar (my tuned-in channel) pasang lagu raya. Lagu Sudirman lak tu, sayuu tak ingat. I was driving (well, my hubby sebenarnya) along the old trunk road from Kuala Kangsar and start revisiting the times in my memory bank of balik kampung raya (or balik raya kampung). Teringat masa balik kampung with my then very noisy siblings. Sume dengan perangai masing-masing naik the mitsubishi galant estate BBW 4473, sopi mesti dok belakang wit all the lugagges and foodstuff. we brought tonnes of stuffs. Baba mesti pasang tape Quraan by Sheikh Mahmud Khalil all the way (sampai pening kapla dibuatnya). Masa tu belum ada PLUS lagi, so kena lah lalu dari Kuala Selangor. My happiest memory was when travelling through the villages, tengok persiapan raya depa. pasang panjut ke tak. Lalu all the three states (Selangor, Perak, Penang) sebelum sampai Kulim. I hate the stretch from Bota to Changkat Jering sebab lalu Beruas, jalan cam ular kene palu. Doesn't sit well with my stomach. Pastu pasar Changkat Jering is a sight for sore eyes. Mama mesti nak singgah, beli 'choq penigham' either on the way pegi or balik, ngan some ikan wadi' (pekasam). The Pasar is an indication that the end of the destination is near and that we could stop and catch a breather sebab dah berjam2 dok dalam kereta. Semalam I saw the Pasar, and smiled inwardly. Some things change very slowly, but eventually all will change.

Anyhow, Siti's singing next door is my favourite raya song by Siti. Banyak lagi yang belum buat for Raya at no. 18 and 6028. Foodwise, household issues...baju hubby and child (arggh). Pelita belum keluar lagi, tunggu Mak Su from Alai? Mak tam refuses to do any cookies this raya, only popcorns and some bread and butter mushroom cheese thingy? Mak Lang have not given any feedback on the broken brand-new oven? Mak Ndak..well mak ndak tengah sort out some old stuffs to give away as per ambah's instructions last I check. The tension is building, but it's the tension we don't mind having. After all Aidil Fitri is setahun sekali. Cheers peeps, till the next posting.