Hari Raya Part 2

We arrived in Padang Rengas quite late, just a few hours before berbuka. It was raining heavily throughout the journey and my wife was sleeping most of the way. I even had to stop to sleep for 1/2 hour near Bukit Merah. We missed the preparation for Raya. Earlier in the day, other family members prepared lemang and rendang. I was later told that this is the first time they bakar lemang in 20 years! Food for buka was abundant...lemang, rendang, udang, limas. I was spoilt for choice. But being the new one in the family I was abit malu...makan sikit2 je. Maybe next year I will makan puas2.

After Maghrib and Isya', the whole family got together. I lost count of how many people were in the living room. There must be more then 15 people. The first session was Takbir Aidilfitri. All the uncles took turn to recite Takbir. After that, it was time for speeches. Since I was the new one in the family I was given the opportunity to talk after my dad in law. I was caught by surprise. I was not informed of this. Being my 'cheesy' self, this came out of my mouth

"Assalamualaikum. Pertama sekali saya ucapkan Selamat Hari Raya dan terima kasih kerana menerima saya dalam keluarga ini. Saya juga ucapkan terima kasih kepada ahli keluarga yang telah membantu dalam persiapan perkahwinan saya dan Akmar 4 bulan lepas."

It was lame,but that was all I can think of. The speeches lasted for 3 hours. With Atok giving the final talk that lasted for 1 hour. It was inspirational. It was mainly on how hard it was to raise children during the old days. I was told that this family started as the poorest family in the village but ended to be the most successful.

After all that talk, me and Akmar had to make our way to Ipoh. Our plan was to spend 1st Raya in Ipoh and 2nd Raya in Kuala Kangsar. We had to cram everything in 4 days as on 4th Raya Akmar has to get to work.