Eid----Without Hues!

I didn’t feel the hues of the Eid this year. All I knew was, Eid is on 1st of October, Wednesday and I have to go for Eid prayers to the mosque. It’s ironic that when I was in Pakistan I never bothered to apply mehendi, wear bangles and go for shopping every other day after Iftar. I always described my mom what I wanted, as in my clothes. The crowded bazaars with loads of lights and overflowing shops always remained scorn to me. I always ridiculed the smell of henna. It made me sick!

But…..

This year the love of my mom, the fights with my sister over clothes, arguments with my brother over Eidi, the sheer khorma, applying henna late night on the hands of my folks, waiting desperately for the moon to show up and then offering the moon sighting prayer, waking up early in the morning, preparing the house for guests, Ammi’s lectures over how to dress up, Baba’s praise for my get up, the compliments of people……..so much omitted in this year of life….I missed a lot…for the sake of my career!! The barrier of distance barely gave me the chance to even wish my loved ones Eid. Those formal sentences…Aahh...I never celebrated Eid that way! Did I? No.
Now when this year I had nothing….I felt like wearing bangles, applying henna on my palms, eating the sheer khorma, which I never liked before and above all wearing my Eid dress!! I did wear my dress to school, everybody complimented it, I went to an Indian restaurant with my host family but…the room of my Mom, Dad, Nana Abu, Aruba, Urooj, Shakkeb, Muneeb, all my friends and my special aunts remained empty! It was quiet. None of my aunts warned me to dress up! None of my friends told me that I look Masi ! Nobody even hugged me to tease. Nobody bothered to say….

You just can’t help it at times…!!