Rayaaa... Episode 1

To sum it up: This raya is one of the best holidays I've had for a long-long time, so here's the re-cap of the events.

My Raya Holidays began on Saturday 28th of October. It was the day that I received both good and sad news. On that day, all my plans for Hari raya took a different turn.

Two weeks before I didn't know that my leave started on the 28th, so I had planned to work right until Nov 1 (that was Deepavali) and would have two solid weeks of Raya Leave thereafter. It was only after the last week I realised that my boss had given me off days since the 28th, so the initial plan to drive home to Rawang had to change to taking the train from Kempas Baru at 9.35am on Sunday 29th.

And it was ten days ago I placed a booking on a Waja, hoping against hope that I would get a new car for Raya. As miracles do happen, I got the last registration number before the RTD counter closed on Friday and the salesman called me to collect a 'galaxy grey' Waja on Saturday morning. I was elated. All my life this was my first time buying a brand new car. My first very own car...

It was while waiting for the car keys that I received the sad news. Eton's father passed away. Eton is my schoolmate and once we used to work in the same office. Her father had suffered the aftermath of stroke for 11 years before he breathed his last. The phone call was from Idah, another schoolmate, shortly after Enid, another school mate phoned to tell the news. My mobile went crazy after I texted our friends about the death, most of them asking about the funeral and other details.

I should call Eton. I should offer my condolonces but words and empathy escaped me. What do I say to her? All I managed to do was quietly recite Fatihah in between signing documents and such. I figured it was better to wait for a while before calling Eton. To send text would be too impersonal.

I was elated for the car and at the same time deeply touched by the news. Kinda hard juggling the two ends of emotional spectrum. Driving home, it felt weird adjusting to the new machine (which actually swallowed RM100 worth of petrol) and deep down I knew this Raya is going to be different.