First day of Raya.
People walking about on the road sides, all draped in colourful attires accentuanating the identity of being uniquely and simply Malay : baju kurung, kebaya and baju Melayu in variant colours- pink, red, maroon, blue, light and dark green, yellow, orange and other strikingly happiness-induced colours, making journeys to their respective destinations all in the joyous mood of celebrating the festive occasion. A sense of conviviality is filling the calm and clear morning air as I drive pass the mingling crowds on both road sides to join a cousin for an open house invitation by a Muslim relative.
I do not quite fancy the idea of sitting through a big crowd and making idle talks but once in a while you have to adapt and accommodate. Mengikat tali silatulrahim, they say. The host has been so kind for preparing vegetarian meals for me. New members are added in the household, the daughter Su is remarried to a quite well-to-do man from Brunei and is five months pregnant now.
Uncle Mohammad Nin as how I address him, is a retired government servant from MUIS, who suffered from stroke two years ago, is thankfully recovering well now, however still a bit weak and easily tired.
Things change and people evolve with the passage of time.
But life goes on..
At night I catch a glimpse of news on TV in the living room reporting the `burning of Al-Quran’ issue to commemorate the 9/11 tragedy in the United States. Why? As if the world needs another provocation of this scale to stir further discord among humanity. There’s another disturbing news of a local self made millionaire businesswoman who with three others have been brutally murdered, their bodies burnt to ashes then scattered in a river in the vicinity.
Sometimes, the mind can only process and absorb this much of information of a violence and cruel nature. You don’t know if you can quite decipher the next similar content of event about to be unfolded, without your mind quickly retreat to a shut-down mode. Yes you feel sad and anger at the tragedy of others but you know after a good night sleep, your thought would quickly focus on something new and all the negative emotions somehow manage to crawl to the back of your mind, and because you have to attend to matters of your own, as well as those around you.
But tonight, still fresh from all the get-together and merrymaking where you participated earlier in the day, you feel that the celebratory moods of the festive season seem to have formed a veil over the gloomy and somber ambience due to what have been transpired via the TV screen in the living room, and outside the sense of joy and gratitude brought about by the festivity are in copious supply, and it demonstrates a contagious spread such that it is now influencing your current state of mind.
And it will tomorrow too.
Third aunt, with her mischievous pose, aunt fr.Bongawan, her friend and SiewYang Ko.
A very affable SiewYang Ko (aunt), the host of Raya Open House
A group photo in front of Siew Yang Ko's house
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