Aidiladha 2020 under MCO conditions

Today is Hari Raya Aidiladha, one of two Eid festivals in the Muslim calendar. It is also known as Hari Raya Haji or Hari Raya Korban, on occasion of the hajj pilgrimage in Makkah, Saudi Arabia and the ritual of livestock sacrifice encouraged upon Muslims who can afford it. However, the worldwide Covid19 pandemic has caused governments to severely scale down the religious activities.

Looking at the TV footage of hajj pilgrims doing the tawaf around Kaabah this year, the stark difference from previous years is glaringly obvious. The millions of hajj hopefuls who had planned to perform their pilgrimage this season, have to wait for the next. The miniscule coronavirus takes no prisoners.

We are at my better half's hometown of Mersing today. Just a small group of family members. No qurbani activity either. But still, a good time to relax and reflect upon the effect of the presence of an unseen enemy.

At Masjid Bandar Mersing

MCO Haircut Version 2

It has been one and a half months since my son gave me a haircut at home under the MCO situation. Although barbers and hairdressers are now allowed to operate in the relaxed restrictions, I still do not have full confidence of the mitigated risks with respect to close contact with barbers. I have decided to stick with my son until we have a zero-infection status in the whole country.

For this second trimming, I chose to make it easy on my son and went for the crewcut style. It is also a look that I have sported before, having opted for it when I performed hajj and umrah. Should last me a few months until the next cut is needed.

The 'balik-haji' or 'balik-umrah' look

A memorable birthday in 2020

A few days ago, I celebrated my 58th birthday. This year's occasion is somewhat different from previous years because of a few reasons.

We are still in Covid-19 pandemic situation, although the daily numbers are encouragingly showing a trend of newly infected cases in single digits. Hopefully, we shall see zero cases being reported soon. The Malaysian government and its citizens have shown great resolve in fighting the outbreak. With the reduction in the number of daily infections, the government has relaxed the MCO restrictions. This includes the ability to travel between states.

Our second son and daughter-in-law both work at Hospital Sungai Buloh, the reference hospital for coronavirus cases. Our son is considered a frontliner as one of his duties include screening of incoming patients. As such, it is quite difficult for him to obtain leave to come visit us. I therefore made the decision for us to travel north to visit them last weekend. I was also conveniently looking for a reason for us to make social visits after being cooped up at home for three months.

The other (even stronger) reason was that I share the same birthday as my daughter-in-law, Aisyah Bt Abdullah, 6th of July. When their wedding was held in November last year, I had not known of this fact. At the time, I was too focussed on planning for the wedding, it didn't occur to me to ask about the birthday of our newest family member. It was only early this year that my wife told me about it. At last, I have another family member to celebrate the 6th of July every year (note : I had previously written about the Birthday Paradox in a post dated 20.12.2009).

Instead of my son and his wife travelling down to Johor to celebrate the special day with us, my wife and I drove the other direction so we could celebrate it with them. We had a birthday lunch at the home of my brother-in-law in Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam, the main menu item being a home-cooked nasi briyani prepared by the mother-in-law of the birthday girl.

Indeed, a memorable family occasion to treasure for years to come...

Only two candles on the cake

Lunch of nasi briyani in both mutton and chicken options

The wedding reception in November 2019. Aisyah and her parents on the right

Kena tembak sebelum masuk...

* 36.6 *

Angka tersebut adalah kegemaran saya buat masa ini untuk meneka jawapan setiap kali pistol suhu dihalakan ke dahi saya sebelum dibenarkan masuk masjid, pasaraya, restoran, pejabat kerajaan dan seumpamanya. Setakat ini, kadar ketepatan tekaan dianggarkan bawah 10 peratus, hahaha...

Di Masjid Bulatan, Kg Melayu Majidee, JB