Tapi for lunch went out to celebrate MrB's birthday pulak (Happy Birthday MrB!!) kat Hartamas. A padang-food restaurant. Hartamas is a frequent haunt of mine tapi tak pernah pulak perasan that shop until today. Food was lavish (again!) and yummy too... got masak lemak tempoyak pucuk ubi, lemak pucuk paku, rendang daging, daging dendeng, bergedil, ayam kampung goreng... all high cholesterol and fat laden. But that wasn't it... since it's a birthday celebration, of course lah ada cake. Which was heavenly... Trio - choc cheese mousse cake with two "boobs", hehe... MrB took the "boobs" home, wonder what he did with it ;)
Aiyoo... all the food that I've been consuming these past few days could have provided a month's worth of nutritions to a starving person in Africa! Inilah masalah kita org Malaysia... bila nak start Ramadan je, everyone goes on a feeding frenzy... as if there is no tomorrow. Sampai jalan jam lah during lunch time because everyone is out seeking for a meal. Moi is a sinner too. Come Ramadan, we still go on a food craze with all the buka puasa pasar malam/buffet, kuih2 etc.
But on a positive note, it also says something nice about camaraderie and our natural desires as human beings to socialise. Friends go out together, contacting those yg dah lama tak jumpa/call... spending time doing what Malaysian love best - EATING! so... nett-nett, boley lah... asalkan tak go overboard.
Tonight marks the beginning of a month long of ritual for me - Tarawikh.
My masjid of choice is non other than Masjid Wilayah, which sits serenely atop a hill not far from my house. I love performing tarawikh kat situ... it's the closest experience to being in Masjidil Haram in Malaysia, in my opinion anyway.
Large open spaces, beautiful architecture... being so big, the imam's recital of the Quran bergaung and fills your soul. It doesn't hurt that their imams are Hafidzs with lovely voices. Usually, one night in Ramadan, they'll bring someone from Saudi Arabia to lead the prayers. I tell you.. if you happen to attend the prayers that night, you can easily be moved to tears... despite not understanding a word that is being recited.
Since the place is big... ramai lah para jemaah. Unlike going to our neighbourhood surau, the Masjid affords me anonymity amidst a crowd of fellow worshippers. The sense of ummah solidarity is prevalent while still offering me my time alone to be with Him. We smile to those who sits next to us, and by the 3rd night or so, you'll recognise the "regulars". In fact, I see familiar faces from years gone by. I still don't know their names... but we acknowledge each others' presence. Ada one lady with a couple of boys... I've watched them grow from toddler sampai sekarang dah masuk sekolah kut. Masa they were small, masyaallah... so annoying. Kejap2 dtg kat mak dia nak tu nak ni, menyelit2 between saf... so I used to stay further away from her. But last year, I noticed that they're more well behaved, albeit still main2 kat saf kanak2 lelaki in front of us.
Usually on the first night and the first weekend night, ramai "visitors". So parking pun extra penuh. These first few nights kena lah keluar rumah awal sikit to get a parking space not so far from the entrance. Tadi pergi lambat... masa keluar rumah dah nak azan. So by the time sampai parking dah penuh (made worse by the fact that it's malam #1). Pergi dgn Mama tadi.. Papa pergi surau and Abg had to go pick up and send his friend. Buat 8 rakaat je... which reminds me, I belum witir lagi. Oh.. Mama lost her slippers tadi. Nothing fancy pun.. just a white colour flip flop which she bought in Halong Bay last month. Itu pun hilang... Our worst experience is Amt losing his Nike sandals which I bought for him in the US.. baru pakai 2 kali and the thing dah "jalan"...
My Ramadan evenings sama je pattern... balik office around 6.15-6.30pm (if I'm lucky!), sampai rumah ngam2 to take a shower before iftar. Often, tak sempat pun... azan maghrib as soon as I reach home. Tapi jarang lah kena berbuka in the car... luckily I live so near to my place of work. Lepas makan, we'll have maghrib jemaah as a family, then terus get ready to go to masjid. Lepas balik from masjid, everyone will head to the kitchen to make a drink and glup.. glup... glup. Kadang2 my siblings and I will merewang to Hartamas or A&W lepas tarawikh, hehe...
Around 4.30am my dad will wake up to heat up food and then kejut us around 5am. I'm lucky that Papa takes this role seriously, hehe... I don't think I've ever bangun to prepare sahur for the family, unless of course if I tak tidur lagi that night (usually on the weekends). Go brush teeth, basuh muka, ambik wudhu, solat tahajjud then go to the kitchen. The TV room is next to our dining area, so TV dah on lah by then, a ceramah on air. Makan... then we wait for azan Subuh... solat jemaah. My brothers and dad would usually tidur lepas tu (seronoknya tak yah gi kerja). I usually "baring-baring" before getting ready to go to work. Mama would gosok Ina's baju or mengaji or siram pokok. Hari2 macam tu.... unless of course if it's the weekend... I'll crash on my bed to catch up on some much needed zzzzzz until late morning ;-)
One thing about Ramadan is that I'll lack sleep. Ye lah... sleeping time tak tukar.. still around 1am, but have to wake up 1.5 hours earlier. I'll get really grumpy if Papa ketuk pintu before 5am, which he occasionally does. The effects: my skin turns sallow, got perpetual dark circle... and can get easily irritated. It's not the fasting that makes me this way... it's the lack of sleep!
I hope to make this Ramadan a better Ramadan than the ones I've had before. Some things that I aim to do...
- solat jemaah all waktu (3 dah settle kat rumah/masjid, just the 2 yg kat office tu je yg quite challenging)
- baca quran hari2
- not to miss tarawikh... if can't go masjid, to do it at home
- spend lunch time dengar ceramah kat surau
- try to balik early enough to assist Mama with iftar preparations
- have a very light meal for sahur
- not to makan kueh2 or benda2 tak perlu
No comments:
Post a Comment