Ramadhan nostalgia

I feel a bit down. It's my first Ramadhan away from home and I don't like it one bit. After the Maghrib prayer, I called home to wish Mama and Papa "Selamat Menyambut Ramadhan". Then, I called 2 juniors, whom I am close to, to wish them the same thing. I feel worse after calling them. They all talk about the familiar things about celebrating Ramadhan at home; solat terawikh, pasar Ramadhan, sahur at Scud, etc ...

I miss all that right now. At IPBA (my previous college), we break fasted together at the surau. A caterer sent over food everyday and we only needed to pay RM5 per meal. This was a perfect arrangement for those people who don't fancy to go to Kerinchi's Pasar Ramadhan each evening like me. And the menu was so finger-licking good!
Let's see if I can remember a few of them correctly:

- Rendang Ayam

- Ayam Kurma

- Nasi Pelangi

- Ayam Panggang

- Nasi Beryani

Yum yum ... what's more, two kuih-of-the-day, dates, and drinks are also provided. Talk about a real bargain huh?

But it's not just the food that I miss. I also miss the company. It's so much fun breaking fast in a big group like that. We were such a noisy bunch! After eating, we performed the Maghrib prayer together. The space between Maghrib and Isyak was then filled with a short 'tazkirah'. More people would start to stream in during this time. We proceeded with the Isyak prayer as soon as we heard the azan coming from the nearby Masjid Al-Azhar or the IBMM surau (a neighbouring teacher training college). Terawikh prayers are next on the agenda. After Terawikh, it's time for 'moreh'! The menu was just as sumptuous:

- Roti Jala + Kari

- Mee Goreng

- Cakes

- Biscuits

I can't remember the others. But all of them were delicious!

After 'moreh', some people would go back to their hostel, some would stay for Tadarus Al-Quran, and some would either head for Scud or Kafe Blok 4 to lepak-lepak.

Another Ramadhan tradition at IPBA is have 'sahur' at 2am at Scud (where else?). Ramadhan is the only time where Asrama Pantaipuri's curfew is extended until 3am. I'm one of the regular 'sahur' people. I would always order the same thing: Banjo + teh ais. My accomplices were: 'Ainur, Zue, Nada, & Nisa. We had the best of times during the 'sahur' sessions. Gosh, I miss them!

I thought of writing about my fasting experience at IPBA as well as at Tmn Keramat, my hometown. But this post is already quite long. Better save the Keramat story for another day.

Before I end this post, I just want to wish all of my friends "Selamat Berpuasa". Semoga kita dapat manfaatkan bulan Ramadhan ini dengan sebaik-baiknya. Moga Allah ampunkan dosa-dosa dan terima segala ibadah-ibadah kita ... Amin ...

Oh, saya juga nak minta maaf kat kawan-kawan semua atas segala kesalahan yg dibuat sama ada sengaja atau tidak. Selamat Menyambut Ramadhan people!