Once in a while, I'd have a wonderful day spent at home and appreciating the slower things in life. Yesterday was once such day.
I was on leave yesterday, made a personal vow to not touch the office laptop and not to even
think of work. I had invited my mother and sister over for lunch at our place (father was out of town), and my wife decided to cook up a storm for her mother-in-law. I decided to join in the fray and announced that I would be whipping up the famous Jalees'-Father's chilled cucumber salad as a complementary side dish. But there was much work to be done - yesterday was a Friday and I had to be in the mosque for congregation prayers by 1pm. Before this however, the house had to be cleaned, the toilets sterilised and flowers bought for decoration, and cucumber salad done, while my wife would cook the curry and do other items (even though she feels considerable discomfort during this 6th month of pregnancy, she was thrilled to be cooking.)
I went out of the house in search of 2 cucumbers, some yogurt and 3 gerboras (requested by wife to enliven the house). I managed to get everything but the crummy cucumbers. I hunted them down at the other wet market opposite my area, and headed home.
At home, the toilets were given a washing-down, and I tried to sweep the whole house in spite of the miraculous dust particles that always evade my broom (one needs the grace of a 5th-grade ballerina to manage these flying dust particles.) Once that was done, I got down to making the salad - shredded the cucumber to smithereens, chopped up the carrot into uneven bits (something I betted that my immaculate mother would notice), sliced the onions and chillies into er, slices. I then mixed everything into a bowl with cold yogurt and squeezed lime, and the deed was soon done.
I rushed over to the mosque (I took a taxi, no choice), and to my relief, found that the imam was still in the middle of his sermon. Not understanding most of the Malay he spoke, I quietly meditated and thanked Allah for enabling me to make it to the mosque on time.
After prayers, the rain started its business. I was full of praise for the town councils for setting up the sheltered walkways all the way from Lower Delta Road to Bukit Merah to Kim Tian Road, until I realised that the estate where I live, Kim Tian Vista, had no connecting shelter. I still praised the town council for making me dry up to this point, and ran to my block under the falling rain, feeling as though I was running in slow-motion in some dramatic movie scene, with the shouting of "nooooo..." in the background. Anyway -
My mother and sister had arrived home, and we all had lunch together. It is always refreshing to have my mother come over to our place, and other family or friends. It livens up the house. After being praised (there's praise everywhere!) for the mutton curry and cucumber salad (as expected, my mother noticed the unevenly cut carrots), we committed Gluttony by downing some mini Cornettos. We also committed Sloth afterward by taking a classic Indian-style siesta, contributing to fat production.
I woke up with a slight runny nose, which was to become a bigger animal later. My mother and sister bade farewell, while my wife and I left to attend a talk at Darul Arqam, on the Spiritual Transformation of Hajj. It was thrilling for me, as it was a topic of interest to me, and the speaker is a very good friend of mine, whom I had yet to see speak at a public setting. A brother of mine, from the mosque where I used to teach, joined us at the session.
The session was very good - the Ustaz''s style of delivery would endear anyone, as it was a very personal and informal style. I also took home many thoughts. I had always thought that the Hajj was too profound an experience to take lightly like a normal overseas trip, so I had thought that it should be done after a person had retired/whose kids had become self-reliant/had no more "obligations" to society. However, I learnt that another way to look at the Hajj would be to see it as an experience in the journey of life, which should be undertaken when one was fit and able, rather than when old and feeble. It is a pillar of faith in Islam, and logically looking at it, when one is able to fulfill it, it should be fulfilled as soon as possible.
After the talk, we went for dinner as a big group, with the Ustaz and friends we made through the session. I felt privileged to be in the company of such people, and glad that my wife and one of my brothers from my mosque was able to be in this gathering.
I went home, nursing a quickly worsening cold. I took some pills, which helped a bit. I went to sleep, rehearsing the first four verses of Surah Al-Layl as I drifted into sleepyland.
Today is a new day - the weather looks like it would rain soon. I just hope it doesn't rain later when I attend a massive bowling tournament organised by my one of my Ustazes, a bowling-fanatic.
Billa has also just released - we might just try to catch in tomorrow evening.
