Eleven hours, that’s how long it took us to get from home to Tanah Merah. It’s a slight improvement from the usual 12-13 hours crawl of yesteryears thanks to the alternative routes that I took along the way. We started off from Semenyih to Kuala Klawang in Negri Sembilan, to Karak - Raub - Gua Musang and then the Jelawang - Jeli route. Despite avoiding all the usual traffic hot spots, we still encounter some jams just before the Central Spine Road and also approaching Jeli. Let’s just face it, unless you’re flying or driving at 3:00 AM in the morning, there’s no way to absolutely avoid the mad rush traffic home.
Moving forward, I don’t wish for my children to endure the same senseless 12 hours traffic as I did. In the future, there will be no more balik kampung trips because our new kampung will be in sweet old Semenyih. Depending on where you live in the Klang valley, the trip will take less than one hour, I promise.
I’m sure everybody knew about the surprise Hari Raya announcement on TV and social media that evening. I suspect it’s all just politics between the palace and the executive. I was too tired from all the driving to give a damn. One thing for sure, I’m not complaining about having to fast one day less.
For the first time in 2 years, I get to bring my family and join hundred others for the Eid morning prayers. I chose the local town mosque in Tanah Merah because it has more parking spaces and there’s ample outdoor praying space. It was also Asif’s first time joining the Eid prayers. Other than lying down in front of the mat while I was praying, he was mostly behaving well at the mosque.
It’s a crowded house at my parent in law’s place in Kampung Sat that day. All of my brother and sister in laws and their kids were present. That’s not counting the guests, friends, distant families and neighbours that showed up later. By now I have accepted the fact that it’s useless to whine about this since it is the norm for major festivities such as Eid. It would be sad otherwise for Linda’s parents if only half the family returned. Lucky for me I was able to get away from the hot and packed house to a relative’s house for some roasted lamb. Sure I had to trot along to visit another relative’s place but it’s only a short walk away plus it had airconds.
The next day, it was time to go back to my own home town in Pasir Mas. I don’t remember being this not excited going back there. Firstly because I seem to spend a lot of time in Tanah Merah instead of Pasir Mas since I got married for some reason. Secondly, me, my mother and my siblings are not so close-knit in the beginning. Izni is living with her own family and four kids now, although nearby, she has her own house. Lina, being Lina and Zaidi with his temperaments is not coming back for Eid at all this year. Faiz, now a divorcee, just dropped off his kids with their mother and came home alone. I think somehow along the years, we lost the charm of Eid in Pasir Mas, especially after each of us got married and have our own little families. Anyway that will be all moot when my kids only celebrate Eid in Semenyih next, some time in the future.
The initial plan was to spend the night in Pasir Mas. Mother however has turned our ancestral home into a home stay and incidentally, she has someone staying over later that day. So it turned into a short visit where we stayed for lunch and then went back to Tanah Merah. Did I tell you Matok is living in her own house now? Even her own mother has had enough of Mother and decided to move out of her home. If I can advise you something, kids, don’t live with your parents after you got married, especially for long periods of time. Sure you can visit them every other weekend or once a month but other than that, the visit must not be more than 2 days tops. I know I probably become the bestest parent and parent in law in the world but there’s always something about staying with your in laws that will eventually create misunderstanding and discord (I’m not talking about the server here).
Of course if you are completely broke or in dire need of a place to stay, our home are always open. I’m just talking from my own experience. My mother had fights with literally everybody that stayed with her for long. Izni and her husband, Linda and I, Faiz and her wife (which led to their ultimate divorce), uncle Din and his family where they stayed for a few months and the latest casualty was her own mother. She is fated to live alone I tell you.
Okay enough of my mother. You know how much I don’t like staying at my in-laws for too long? I literally booked an overnight stay at Cameron Highlands for 500 ringgit so that we can leave the house 3 days earlier. And you know how cheap I am about spending money on unnecessary things. If it’s up to Linda, she would probably demand that we stay until the last day of the holiday. You can read about the rest of my short Cameron getaway from my other blog. It was a bittersweet experience.
So that was my report for Eid 2022. I don’t look forward to next year. I hope that I don’t have to drive another 12 hours back to Tanah Merah (plus 12 hours back) any time soon.
