IT WAS THE WITCHES!

One of the most irritating part of Eid is getting up early in the morning to go to the local mosque for special Eid prayer congregation but it is paradoxically also quite a special event. I mean the prayers is what sets the day different from an ordinary holiday. And only when one sees all those other people well-groomed, dressed-up and grinning can one comprehend that it is Eid today. But even so I was still not happy about being awoken at around 7 a.m.

After the prayers it seems to me as the whole day is an extended session of 'feed-my-stomach-people' because I went to numerous houses and everywhere I just basically stuffed myself with the goodies and rolled my eyes at stupid things people usually say. Speaking of which, a man was telling me that it was the White House itself which carried out 9/11. And then there was that Auntie who said in a very matter-of-fact way, "A lot of our problems are caused by witches and ghosts." The point is, there was ample display of stupidity. Thank God my family has rational, lucid individuals or else I would have to deal with conspiracy theories and superstitions as an answer to every problem in this world. Some thing like, "Oh! that mosque got bombed? Must be the Jews or Hindus or hmmm...could it be a curse from an evil whore?"

I love going to an ice-cream parlor on Eid day. It's one of those supposedly 'hip' places but the ice cream is good. The markets are always fun because I can feel excitement in the air there. BUT the fact remains, Eid is also a pretty boring time. Especially since, there is a lot of excitement building up for Eid- all through Ramadan and then waiting for the moon to be sighted- that when Eid actually comes it sorta falls short of the expectations and the bubble bursts in an anti-climactic way and one is left to stare listlessly at TV. I'm sure a lot of people can relate to what I just said.

All in all, it was just like every other Eid but in many ways it was the most different, special Eid I've ever had in my life.