Raya was a grand event..for the first time Atuk's house was complete with all 26 relatives (1 Atuk, 7 daughters, 4 son in laws and 14 grandchildren)...
and yes we Malaysians fasted for a whole 30 days.. unlike my comrades in England who only did 29 .. :D

So its the 4th day of Syawal and Im back in the office.. At the moment theres only 6 people here.. including the cleaning lady.. i guess the others are still busy with their lemang's and ketupats.

anyway, to most Raya means celebrating after a month of fasting and.. about forgiveness and all that... but here is what raya means to me...

Raya is :

i) when all the aunties.. uncles.. cousins.. go out sesudah subuh, to meredah all the traffic to get back to kampung...

ii) when my uncle and and us cousins ranging from 40 years old.. to 27 down to 14 years old play tuju selipar in the front yard while waiting for buka puasa on raya eve

iii) when a giant lipan creeps into the kitchen freaking out all the makciks..and children.. while the cool atuk squishes it with a roll of paper..

iv) when the pressure cooker is tension because it has to cook to much daging.. that it bursts out hot steam ..splatting the walls with pieces of tender meat.. and yet again freaking out all the makciks.. and becomes this years peristiwa hari raya yg tak dapat saya lupakan..

vi) when us cousins get busy hanging the pelita all over the place and even make our own panjutusing bamboo.

vi) when us cousins with some secret help from our dads gets supplies of mercun roket, mercun mancis, mercun naga, mercun lebah, mercun bola, mercun .. mercun .. mercun.. and bunga api and then have a sound war with the next door neighbours.. seeing who can make the loudest noise or the better fireworks display.

vii) when we wake up early on the morning of Hari Raya to have a big family breakfast..go to visit the kubur.. come back and fight over the toilet ...as everyone is in a rush to get ready for the Sembahyang raya..

viii) when we crowd around.. to salam with all the aunties and uncles.. and while the children get green packets.. while u sit there watching... not all the adults give duit raya to u with the excuse that u are already working... when the truth is u havent even got ure first pay check..

ix) when ure handphone inbox is jammed up with all these creative raya wishes ..

x) when u get weird phone calls from all over... such as... "zzzt... krrkk. krrrk... hello... krrk.... kenal.. krkk.. zzzt.. tak..... ni.. zzt.. karem..krk". " hello?? .. zzt. sape nih?...krrk.. hello?" toot.. toot.. tooot.. toot..
or sms's yg berbunyi nada riak.. sbb ada orang raya awal..