Terawikh and tawarikh

I was not in the city center last weekend, when 6000 or so of my countrymen celebrated a scaled down 52th Malaysian Merdeka Day in Parliament square. As far as I can remember, that was the first time one of our country biggest annual festivity was held in that place, with a very limited numbers of people involved.

Actually I was with my family 240 km away from the city center, to be more precise in Kuala Kangsar. We traveled there a day earlier. It was not because I ran away with the fear that the 6000 or so people who mingled freely with other unsuspecting carrier of the dreaded disease will escalate the spread of the already widespread pandemic, but because the school holiday was over and my eldest son once again forgot to remind me to buy him a bus ticket.

On most of the occasion, I will drive up north and come back again the same day. But the idea of doing a terawikh at one of the mosque listed as the most beautiful in Malaysia was so hard to resist. We booked and stayed at Resort Safari Sungai Perak, which is situated closely to the bank of Sungai Kangsar. It was only a walking distance from the bustling marketplace. There was a pasar ramadhan so lively with people and all the delectable choices of delicacies but we decided to have our iftar at the resort as the iftar promotion was very good.

Having an iftar at the resort was quite a memorable experience. The wide selection of traditional buffet was very impressive, tasteful and comparatively cheap (RM15/adult, RM10/kid plus one guess FOC). With our tummy well stuffed, my other half and me finally got the chance to perform tarawikh at Ubudiah mosque.

Indeed the architecture of the mosque was so stunning. If not because the imam beautifully reciting the verses in the Al-quran, I almost couldn't concentrate well in the pray - too mesmerized. We finished the tarawikh with only 8 rakaat. Still donning in my favorite sarong I quickly took the chance to snap some photos of that majestic man made creation (there were few who did the same :)

'Hari ini dalam sejarah'. I was there, 2 years ago on the 50th. year of Merdeka celebration. That was on the rehearsal day (2 weeks of rehearsal and strict practice on 'kawat and tabik spring' under a watchful eyes of 'Mat misai', in the 'terowong' waiting for the procession.

On the day itself with custom made and colorful costumes to mark the different era before the Independence. We marched and marched with pride, chanting with high spirit '..inilah barisan kita...'

"SALAM KEMERDEKAAN BUAT JIWA-JIWA YANG MERDEKA"