Eid= happiness and…

By Kokoro-chan

1. Bliss…at first:
'EID MUBARAK!!!' you shout out to the world first thing after getting up early in the morning, savouring the blissful day of Eid, basking in the happiness and sharing it with the rest of the creation…and get unceremoniously kicked in the behind by your older brother for making such a racket early at dawn. “What's wrong with the world?” You think to yourself. What, indeed.

2. It's called 'socialisation':
After prayers you spot your best friend of so many years and approach him, arms wide open for the holy embrace, just like every year- warm and welcoming….only this time he's running away from your arms instead of running into them. “Dude, Swine Flu, Swine Flu, stay away!”- he shouts and runs away. And there you have it: your very first Eid without 'kolakuli'.

3. Money has its price:
Yes, older people always get a bigger amount of 'salaami'. Lucky you! But wait, there's also a catch. You see, older people also have to give away 'salaami' to the younger ones. And so, in no time a huge line of annoying brats has formed in front of your door, all of them insisting on nothing short of fifty bucks sharp. “Tricky squirts,” you mutter to yourself, “no wonder the country's poor…”

4. The Satellite Savvy:
It starts early in the morning with the Notun Kuri kids tapping their feet as they swing from left to right (apparently they sing like that, poor kids) and lasts till the dead of the night. Well, actually the second, third, even the tenth night follows in line (there should be new theses subjects for university students: The n-th day of Eid). And throughout these days the satellite channels prepare such an extraordinarily jumbled crisscrossed assortment of dramas, telefilms and what not that one can be certain they are designed for the sole purpose of overwhelming the audience. And that they do. You sit in front of the TV, armed with the remote and the newspaper cutout of the Eid schedule, but alas, within only twenty minutes or so you find yourself lost in the treacherous jungle of TV programmes. Such are the cunnings of the satellite channels.

5. Catwalk makes even the cat tired:
Eid without new dresses? Of course not. But how many exactly? Well, mom bought one. Then one from the grandparents, one from chacha-chachi, another from mama-mami, and, oh wait khala gave you one too, two actually. And there were a couple from friends as well. So most of the Eid day is actually spent trying them on and off, catwalking around the moholla, and in the end…getting dead tired.

6. Food is not ALWAYS Good:
Yes, it is our holy duty to make up for the month-long fasting by eating as much as we can on Eid day. So you start eating early in the morning, and you eat and eat till noon. Then in the evening you go to meet friends and family where, obviously, you eat more. For Eid means food, right? After that? When the increasing amount of food threatens to burst your belly button open and your tummy starts making funny noises that indicate only two things: Bathroom and Bodna. Yes, that's the way Eid comes to an end every year for most of the Bangali. So you have nothing to be ashamed of.

Here's wishing Eid Mubarak to everyone.