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Away From Home on Raya

What a very long day. After I bid goodbye to my hommie, Abg Ayi in Puduraya, I was so clueless of where to go to kill my time. After much contemplation, I decided to buy a train ticket and head to Pavilion.

There wasn't many people, though it was Sunday and in the afternoon. I stopped by Etro, where I worked and Anya Hindmarch (located opposite of Etro) to do some bug-job to Kak Azfar and Jue in respective stores.

Then, I took a stroll around the mall and checked out some things, reluctantly.

The Marc Jacobs tote that I wanted was still there for 30% off. Wonder when I'll get it. Oh, Bally has some cool messenger bags and totes as well. There was a band playing what-seemed like Christmas carol in the Bintang Circle.

That was it.

I headed up to level 6. In Times bookstore, I found comfort browsing through the pages of a book called 'The Qur'an: A Biography' by Bruce Lawrence. A very good, educational biography about what he said as "one of the greatest and most misunderstood books in history". Even as a Muslim, I learned a couple of new things from it.

Moving on. It was just shy 10 minutes to 3pm and I was already clueless of where to go next. Home? Not yet. I couldn't be going home just yet. I'd be awfully, dreadfully lonely at home in front of my lappy doing nothing but engaging myself with the internet. Facebook in particular.

But most of my friends wouldn't be Facebook-ing anyway. It was Raya's eve, remember?

Pathetic.

I walked to Lot 10, had a drink there and pleasantly bumped into an old friend, Peter. Had a little (much needed) chit chatting and catching up with each other.

It was already dark by 7pm, with thick black clouds up above indicating an approaching heavy downpour at any time. I boarded the not-so-surprising-less-crowded monorail back to Sentral Station, sour face included.

As I look out, from up above, the city looked different. Less vibrant, less people, gloomy and totally lacked the oh-so-exciting vibe. KL was so dull that night, it seemed.

Like Carrie Bradshaw once said, she never considered herself to be single because she was attached to the city for 20 years. But somehow, like on a night like this one that I had right there, she felt betrayed and jilted by the city she loved.

Boy, I totally feel that.

Due to the nature of my work, I couldn't be going back for my Eid ul Adha. Actually I could but it wouldn't be worth it to travel so far up north just for a mere day and having to work on the very next day. Totally un-cool.

It seemed so easy at first when I first knew that I wouldn't be home for Raya. But it started to kick in when you see one after one of your hommies left, the usual stall where you buy your lunch and dinner closed for holidays and so does the groceries store. Everything around you stood still, dark. No crowds. No nothing. Even RapidKL buses and komuters were empty.

Everyone had left KL but me. I knew it wasn't a 100% true statement but it made me felt that way.

Thank God there was another human left in KL. My good, good buddy since I was 16, Hanz called and asked me to keep him company for the night and I was totally affirmative to that proposal. Around 1am, he sent me back and I called it a night after checking my Facebook and Myspace for any comments/messages (none, by the way).

I woke up to the sight and sound of heavy rain. There goes my noble intention to join the rest of Pantai Dalam folks in Eid ul Adha prayer, I thought. So I continued to sleep again.

Woke up at 8am to the sound of Raya takbir. The soft, melancholic signature Raya takbir really touched my heart. One lonely soul stuck in KL on Eid ul Adha. One warm teardrop slipped the corner of my left eye and hastily, I pulled back the blanket and continued to journey into Lalaland.

As I woke up at 11am, I had 3 text messages and 1 misscall from a private number on my BlackBerry. Two text messages from Abg Ayi, asking me how were things and one was from Mama, asking me where I performed my Eid ul Adha prayer (on bed, Mama) and what did I have for breakfast (just some smelly drops of saliva so far).

It was still raining. And until 3pm, my Raya was all about munching on Jack & Jill barbeque flavor and watching Sex and the City season 5.

By 3pm, still raining, I headed to KLCC. Met my great friend, Chong Jin. We had late lunch (actually I did, he didn't) and continued talking almost about everything.

I bought some stuff to eat in Cold Storage and headed home. Alone again, so far. Only Aboy was home, except that he was a cat.

I'll go to sleep now. At least tomorrow is not Eid ul Adha.

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