It is Eid again in Mumbai, and of course elsewhere too. In Mumbai the Eid starts on 21st September 2009 and moderate preparations were made but we tried to ensure a joyful one as we are thousand miles away from home, parents, families and friends.
To ensure all Malaysians in Mumbai are joyful and happy, an Eid party was organized by the Consulate General of Malaysia, certainly with an active and full cooperation from the PERWAKILAN ladies.
The Eid celebration began in the morning of 21st September 2009, at (again) A La Mode Banquet Juhu. It is a marvelous place indeed, at least they provided us with a hall that we can use for prayers. There we started with takbir at around 9.00 am. It was the Malaysian takbir, so a bit “sayu”. The Eid prayers began at 9.45am with Mr. Norasalan Hadi (Trade Consul) leading the jemaah, while khutbah was delivered by Mr. Wan Zaidi, the Consul General. At the end of the khutbah, we greeted and sought forgiveness among us with a full of wishes and shake hands (and a lot of hugs and kisses too!!!), as we didn’t know if we could be celebrating together again next year.
Here we go…..The Eid Party started at 11.00 am. Around 120 Malaysians from all races attended. There were students and professionals, engineers and managers, officials and diplomats, housewives and children. We had the presence of the Consul General of Egypt, Acting Consul General of Indonesia, and diplomats from Singapore, Indonesia and South Africa too. 18 Malaysian students from Karad drove up for 6 hours to Mumbai to join the Eid celebration.
The party hall was decorated with lights and flowers while the Eid songs were played. The Consul General and his wife, Mrs. Zuhaila greeted the guests and children. In fact, the children were the one appeared to be the happiest although some could not make it as some schools did not declare Eid as a school holiday. They were all given “duit raya”.
All guests were served with tablefull of dishes, and without exception, delicious Malaysian traditional festive delicacies including rendang, nasi impit, kuah kacang, sate, lodeh, kari ayam, roti jala and various cake and cookies.
While guests were enjoying food, some dared presenting and entertaining all of us with Hari Raya song on karaoke. The party lasted until 2.00pm. It was a joyfull and memorable celeberation in Mumbai! But it was not all, later at 3.00 pm, the Consul General and his wife also hosted an open house at their residence.
Click here for more photos of Eid celebration in Mumbai.
SELAMAT DATANG 