AidaReza

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Location: PJ, Selangor, Malaysia

Mom, foodie, mall-rat.

Friday 19 October 2007

Open house

I went to open houses during Raya where the food was superb but below were what peeved me big time:

- polystyrene bowls and cups
- no mineral water/plain water in sight (brought my own from second house onwards)
- portions served too small or like one house, the hostess ran out of rice - honestly!
- food not heated up properly
- cheap tasting cookies

That is why any Raya cookies given to me will be brought to the office for those who don't mind them. When I open my house I make sure the guests eat off proper plates, glasses and have A LOT of food for seconds and thirds. If you are not generous enough then don't have one.

Tuesday 9 October 2007

Raya 4 days away

Every year when Ramadhan starts hubby declares "I don't want to go back Taiping - every year it's the same, so boring". This year was no different. He wanted to go to Bandung, Kota Kinabalu, Singapore - naming all the places but his kampung. Then 2 days ago he said, "Ok, well go back lah, kesian Opah..." So I pick up the phone and dial the hotels wih fingers crossed. Thankfully, there are rooms for the eve and for the first few days of raya. He wants to leave on the eve along with ten thousand other Klang Valley folks. I pray the roads will be clear.

The routine is the same every year. We go to his Opah's house and eat breakfast then the men go for raya prayers. When they come back, we eat again and then go visiting. First is Tok Chik's house for ketupat palas and rendang. Next, Makcik Ida's house followed by a few more houses. By 4pm we will assemble at Opah's house for a bit then head back to our hotel room to change. After Maghrib back to Opah's for dinner and after that supervise the kids as they play with sparklers. So folks that is the drill. Let's go!


Monday 8 October 2007

The last days of Ramadhan

I am going to terawikh tonight for the first time ever. I am nervous but I will never know unless I go. Reza said this last days is the most berkat.

Let me explain why I am nervous because other to Muslims doing terawikh is no big deal. To me it is. You see, I was not brought up in the proper Muslim way. My father was never around and my mum a Muslim convert, although loving, did not know enough herself to guide me. Her wayward husband was more interested in booze and women. Anyway, I learned to pray on my own. Over the years I prayed and stopped. I never performed my daily prayers religiously and just wondered at those who did.

It is a shock to my system having to pray again after so long (since last Ramadhan, actually) so it feels weird. I am embracing this change with a bismillahi-rahmanirahim...

Thursday 4 October 2007

For Nurin Jazlin











Nurin Jazlin's missing poster appeared at the lobby of my apartment building a few weeks before she was found.

Everyday I passed by the poster wondering when? when when? My 2 year old daughter kept asking "what happened to her?" So explained that the girl was missing and that her mummy and daddy are looking for her.

When a child goes missing for that long, what are the odds that she can be found safe and sound?

When the unidentified dead child's body was found and her photo appeared in the papers with the suggestion that it was Nurin Jazlin, I, like her parents just could not see the resemblance much more accept it.

Then when the DNA results confirmed it was Nurin Jazlin, I still couldn't accept it.

How could DNA be wrong, right?


On the day she was buried my husband told me to take down her poster. I took it down and kept it. That is the only tangible association I have of her. I hope I never have to see any more posters of missing children.

I don't know why Nurin Jazlin's death affects me so much. I can’t stop thinking of her.

I guess it's because I am a parent and this could happen to my child. I am guilty letting my girl run ahead of me in malls or when in a bookstore or toy shop, I let her explore so understand her mother's anguish, she assumed Nurin Jazlin went out with her older sister.

What I don't understand is why she was killed in such a horrific manner?

Can you imagine the pain and suffering Nurin Jazlin went through? This is what keeps me awake at night.

We need a system where a missing child can be found within hours. As Tembam, Nuraina and other bloggers have proposed - we need an Amber Alert for missing children in Malaysia and we need it now!

We can't wait for Datuk Sharizat, the Police etc to get their act together. We got to take control and set the alert ourselves.