Eid Mubarak everybody.
Eid is one of the most special occasions in our family. And one of my favorite things about it is the uncertainty. Will it be the 29th or will it be the 30th? That's the question from Day 1. One of my colleagues asked me "how do you deal with it? You can't really make any plans until the last minute. That would never happen in the Western world. Everything would be spelt out and holidays would be decided well in advance." and I said to him "really? Don't you like uncertainty? You are here now. Can you tell me for sure where you will be the next few hours? Will you be able to guarantee me that you will stay healthy the next few days? You can't because that's life. So we deal with uncertainty on a daily basis. And anyway eid is not a matter of life and death. It's just the ending of one month and beginning of another. I can deal with it thank you very much. In fact I even like it."
Everyone has their own favorite Eid moment. Mine is getting up early in the morning, after barely 3 hours of sleep, bathing in the cold water and shivering while getting dressed in brand new clothes. And then rushing to the Eidgah (the special ground where Eid prayers are held) to get there in time for the prayers. We stand to pray on a thin mat through which the coolness of the sand seeps through our feet. Afterwards when the sermon is going on, tiny droplets of water from the tip of my freshly bathed hair falls on to the nape of my neck, making me sneeze continuously. And as we sit there, the sun slowly creeps out from behind the clouds and shines on our black abayas, warming our bodies as well as our hearts. There are young children running around, basking in the rare chance of being in an open ground filled with sand. After the sermon, there are duas, asking Allah to accept our fasts, forgive our sins, praying for peace for our brothers and sisters in Palestine, Libya, etc. Afterwards, a sea of people troop out. The men wear crisp, new shirts. The women have fresh, dark henna on their hands. Many will be on the phones trying to call their loved ones back home. Several of them will be hugging each other wishing Eid Mubarak. And amid all the mayhem, there will be two groups of people who try to maintain some order- the policemen and cleaners . The policemen patiently wait outside the venue, without praying, keeping vigil to ensure that everything is smooth. Afterwards as everyone piles into their cars, chatting and laughing, they will try to direct the traffic with as little hiccups as possible. The cleaners quietly sweep the road to clear out all the carelessly discarded waste. And as they do, cars honk at them and people beckon them. When they go, the men will lean out, shake hands with them and wish them Eid Mubarak. And when they withdraw their hands, there will be a tiny note of 5, 10 or even 100 quietly crumbled in their fist. Once the cars are gone, all the cleaners will get together and compare their earnings. They will then probably head out to send that extra bit of cash back home.
And then there are some Eids that are memorable. My dad always tells me about one of his. It was about 30 years ago, back when he was a bachelor living with his friends. During ramadan he and his roomies would chat with each other for a long time at night. On weekends these chatting sessions would extend till early next morning when they would pray Fajr and go to sleep. After one such Thursday night, on the 29th day of Ramadan, they were getting out of morning prayers to go sleep when the muezzin announced that it was Eid. That year Ramadan lasted only 28 days!!! Needless to say, the guys went around like zombies the whole day...
Have a safe holiday everyone.
Saturday Centus
Was quite kicked about the prompt. The story below is partially true. I told my husband with a letter that read somewhat like this.
It had been 3 days. She was acting quite strange. ‘Is it an affair?” he wondered. Why else would she be smiling, giggling and talking to herself?
The house was still when he walked in. And then he saw the letter. “She’s left,” he thought, picking it up with trembling hands, preparing himself for the worst. It read
Ted, howdy mate? Just wanted to let you know its dark and cozy here. Am really liking it. But don’t worry, I’ll be with you shortly. Love, your 5-week old baby.
She jumped out saying “Surprise, I am pregnant.”
School reunion
So its been exactly 28 days since my last post. Procrastination is my middle name. And this post was due two weeks ago. But better late than never, right?
I am not a particularly great organizer. My cupboard is never neat, my drawers are always messy, I can't seem to keep anything straight. So imagine my horror when I realized that I had to organize a party for 270 people. My first thought was "why don't I leave the country for 2 months and come back when everyone forgets about it?"
"So then how did you get yourself into this?" My colleagues asked me. Let me explain. Farah (aka Fud) has been my friend for more than 11 years now. From school, through college, to now. So Fud kept sitting on my head and saying "Let's have an iftar re-union before school shifts to the new campus." You see our 43 year old school was shifting from its campus to a new one (by the way my school is older than this country itself). I loved my school and really wanted to see it one last time but more than that I wanted to keep Fud happy (read: I wanted Fud to stop pestering me). So I created an event on Facebook and invited all my friends and batch mates. People started signing up, commenting, blah, blah. And then Fud comes up with a brainwave. Why don't we try and organize the iftar at school itself and invite every possible Our Ownian we could? I'm not too excited but I agree. You see I want to keep Fud happy. And then began email exchanges with the school principal. I sent an email, he replied. I sent another email, he replied again. And this went on until I had an appointment with him to discuss the re-union. Please note, up until this point Fud has done no actual work other than come up with brainwaves. So I met the Principal Mr. Aziz Akhtar in his office. For me this meeting was more emotional than the reunion itself (you see at the reunion my emotions had evaporated in the heat). This was the campus where I had spent a good deal of my life. And to drive into that campus in my own car as an adult, it made me very nostalgic. And then to walk into the principal's office- which was obviously out of bounds for us in our school days- and announce that I had an appointment to meet him just made me feel more grown up than I wanted to admit. Mr. Akhtar was to the point, helpful and totally amazing. He agreed to help us out in whatever ways he could.
At night I was filling Fud in about my meeting and we were discussing food options. I said we could get iftar kits from a few restaurants that I know. "But you know Nas, I think we should do a school theme," says Fud. "Let's get puffs, pizzas and areej- the stuff that school used to give." At this point I no longer wanted to keep Fud happy. I wanted to punch her in the face. I said "Fud, don't ask me to do that. Will you please do it?" Why did I say please? This was something she wanted. But I did and she agreed. "Let's give the job of arranging other stuff to Rash and Sand," Fud said, referring to two other friends- Rashmi and Sandhya- and not a skin disorder or the desert.
And thus began a series of arranging. At this point 50 people were attending the iftar. We ordered 65 packs. Water and areej had to be bought separately. Then dates, garbage bags, tissues, etc. Three days before the event, 70 people were attending. More phonecalls. Increase the number of iftar packs and water. Two days before, 150 people attending. The day before 220. "Nas, all I wanted to do was just go to school, have a small iftar, meet friends, take pictures and come back. NOT worrying about organizing iftar for 200 plus people," Fud sighed on the phone the night before the event.
D-day dawned nice and bright. I was so nervous that I had butterflies in my stomach all day. My mom said I was just hungry but I refused to buy that explanation. "Nas my horoscope today says that I will be lynched by 200 hungry people," Fud messaged me. "Then I will just escape by the back door," I messaged back. "I love you too," Fud wrote. At 5 sharp we were there at the school gate. To put it mildly it was a day from hell. Hot, humid and sweaty. Within 5 minutes of stepping into the school, we were all drenched . We ran around delegating jobs to everyone, making sure things were getting done, etc. By 6 30, I was so severely dehydrated that I thought I'd have to break my fast (the azaan is at 7). I started to feel dizzy, my hands and legs felt weak, etc. I just sat in the only AC room looking into thin air. Then on it was Fud, Rashmi and Sandhya who held fort. Welcoming people, collecting money, making sure everything was ok, etc. It was only after I had broken my fast and had some chocolate cake that I finally had enough energy to stand up. The rest of the evening passed quickly. Some old faces, some new; some who I hadn't seen since graduating and some I had met many many times. But one thing was common- not a single one of them left without thanking both of us for giving them the opportunity to come back to school and relive their memories. By the end of the evening, the four of us were sweaty, tired and had lost a good amount of money. But it was all worth it.
However I must add that there were other ramifications of the event. "I'm not organizing another event till Mehreen's marriage," I declared to my husband that night (Mehreen is my 15 month old daughter, by the way). And a few days later when he met Fud, my hubby said "oh hi reunion organizer" and Fud put her hands over her ears and screamed :-)