ঈদ মুবারাক
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As always, I'm late to greet; and you know my go-to line "better late than never." So, everyone Eid Mubarak and I wish you all and your families have blessed days ahead; more than that; I wish we'd all fight our best against all odds and emerge as victorious. Now that's a little bit different than the regular holiday wishes, right? "May Almighty bless you with prosperous days ahead", "may you and your families have all the joy and happiness showered upon you" or "may Allah grant you and your family peace and prosperity" all these wishes have a nice ring to it; it makes us hopeful about the coming days. Then again, we struggle; we always face troubles, yesterday, today, tomorrow and all the other days. I can't wish that you'll win all of them; I can only say that may you have the strength and courage to face them all.
Okay, no more talk about struggles. It s a joyous day and we're all celebrating. I'll not even mention anything about how people went home to their families at this serious situation. At the moment, I'm stuffed after gorging enormous mount of food. I have been away from posting for the last few days due to all the preparations and planning; no matter what the situation is, it's Eid and we'd celebrate. We'd tidy up our homes, make them look beautiful, we'd cook delicious food that can be fed to 20 people on the spot; yes we're more or less extravagant and very much a foodie.
I was reminiscing how I spent Eid back when I was little. Oh, believe me, no one could find me at home after 10 in the morning. Perhaps I have become less sociable nowadays but that wasn't how I used to be before. I was the goody-two-shoe (don't laugh) with a sizeable friend circle in the neighborhood. Those were good times actually. My mom and her helpers would start preparing the night before, so that we can start feasting as early as we can and my dad usually left for prayers before 8 AM. I never really liked waking up in the morning but I also hated the afternoon nap. But I could always manage to wake up early for Eid and why not? So many exciting things were about to happen. I would be washing up and dressed pretty then hurriedly eat whatever I could find and off we go; yes we, as in all the neighborhood kids. We'd be gathering and choose to go to houses; if you ask any other kids from here, they did more or less the same thing. We weren't excited about the food our neighbors made, oh no; we're always excited about Eidi.
If you're wondering what Eidi is I'll explain it. I have no clue how it started nor I'm going to research on that; but I'll tell you my side of the story. So, we kids will go Eidi hunting; we'd go to a house, we'd greet each other and they'll give us some food and before we'd leave, they'd gift us some money as well. Do not mistake it as a donation. Yes, in our religion we have Zakat where we'd be donating a portion of our wealth to poor; but Eidi is different. It is a long ongoing tradition here which is basically gifting to kids or younger relatives or anyone we choose. It is a gift that we happily give to the ones we want to and often it's exchanged as well. When I was a kid, I would be collecting Eidi; as now I'm older, I still get Eidi and I give too. There's a certain joy of giving and receiving Eidi and usually the amount doesn't really matter at all but one's own emotion matters the most. I still get overjoyed with what I get and be more elated to see the happy faces of whom I give.
Our traditions make us distinguishable and sometimes we do follow them and some people make their own; traditions like Eidi are fun for everyone. See, even though I started a little bleak but I ended with a very nice note, haven't I?
After I finish publishing it, I'll go to my mom and nag why she hasn't given me my Eidi yet; it's my right.
