ramadhan

ku ketemu ramadhan lagi, alhamduliLlah

tika ramadhan menyapa
teringat sejarah lama
rupanya belum ada
kisah manis serupa
tika sendiri di utara
jauh daripada keluarga tercinta

tika ramadhan menyapa

i have yet experience ramadhan like i had while i was studying - a spand of 11 years or so.
and the most memorable one would be while in usm (92-97). how we, my few close friends and i, would be busy helping ustaz-ustaz of pusat islam to cook for iftar and more, a few days a week. the cooking would be for around 1000 people mind you.. so there were many of us helping out, starting from as early as 2pm. and the 1000 were students, lecturers and also our neighbours. the specialty for any given day, either when raja nazrin was to attend iftar with us or the tnc or any other vvip, would be ustaz ishak awang kechik sambal asam cicah..... yup..... the first imam of pusat islam would prepare this specialty for those who help in the kitchen :) and i would take back some more for sahur .. hehehhe..... after helping out in the kitchen, we would lay the 'tikar' and 'saprah' along the corridor of pusat islam. yup, we eat 'bersila' along the corridor of pusat islam :) and on a 'dulang' :) every dulang will have 4 of soims, sometimes more. more often, these four people were close friends or at least knew each other. there were also tables and chairs, but i prefer the former :)

i usually will not eat much and friends would tease me saying that my stomach is not as big as theirs. when the truth is , i was hurrying to the toilet, saving needless time wasting having to line a long queue.

the tarawikh was done 20 rakaats but i would stop at 8.. hehehe...... i would ususally wait until the witr, during which i will read the quran or do my homework or taking a nap or discussing projects with friends.

outside of the mosques there were stalls selling cassettes, jubah, dates. the mosque and its compound will have extra lightings... and when we finished the tarawikh for the day, after the more.. the scenery would be like pesta pulau pinang, only the people were wearing decent clothes, and no huhahuha between men and women were seen. i remember those days, i thought of how it would be like in masjidil haram.

i can't remember much how i spend my days during ramadhan except that and yes... browsing the many types of dishes in pasar ramadhan at gelugor. doing lab during fasting month would be something extra difficult because we can only smell what we were preparing or the neighbouring students' cooking in the next lab.

ramadhan is here again, alhamduliLlah. i guess, to top the sweet memories i have during those usm years would be spending ramadhan in makkah al mukarramah with my love ones. Allahu'alam.