Anak Muda di Rantauan Tak Semuanya Pulang ke Desa

I guess it’s still not too late to wish everyone a blissful Eid ey. Well just so you know that this year is the very first time I celebrated Eid without my family. It ain’t so bad though. At least I have my friends here with me. Honestly, celebrating eid in Egypt feels no big difference compared to celebrating it in Malaysia because the huge amount of Malaysian students in this country. There are plenty of open houses and we still get the chance to eat Malaysian cuisine such as rendang, kuah kacang, nasi impit and numerous types of kuih raya. I think, apart from the fact that we’re celebrating eid without our family, the only regret is that we don’t get duit raya from anyone here.

On the 1^st day of Syawal, my friends and I went to ARMA(Asrama Rumah Melayu Abbasiah) to pray Solat sunat eidulfiti there. For those who don’t know, ARMA is like the Malaysian hall in Egypt. We took a cab and arrived at ARMA around 7 a.m. plus and around 8 a.m. we prayed and listened to the khutbah(sermon). After that only were we allowed to enjoy the foods. ARMA was flooded with Malaysians so we had to queue up. I didn’t even have the chance to taste the rendang there. Well at least I got the satay.

Later that night, my housemates and I made nasi impit, kuah kacang, rendang and kuih cornflakes. Well actually Shamil was the one capable of doing all those dishes. The rest just helped a bit. Quite awkward it was because usually people cook for eid before eid but us? We cooked after eid. Shamil said, “biasalah, raya perantau” and I added, “raya perantau bujang ah”. Long story short, everything was a success (based on bachelor’s standard of course) although the kuih cornflakes were made without its cups and some of the nasi impit were a bit too soft.

Celebrating eid in Egypt isn’t so bad. We have many open houses between Malaysians. It feels almost like home. So, to those who study in Egypt but still hasn’t the chance to celebrate eid in Egypt, I think you guys should try it. Besides, when else would you get the chance to experience the feeling of celebrating it without your family if not while you’re thousands miles away from home?

Roses are red violets are blue, forgive and forget, we're all human too.
Wherever we are, whatever we do, don't forget to pray that He'll bless me and you.
Life's a surprise, life is short.
You want paradise? Obey your Lord.
Not just in Ramadhan, not just on Friday.
... Tapi dalam apa jua keadaan, tak kira gembira ke sedih ...