Eid nostalgia

Today is Eid, I must confess that I am nostalgic. Cheriya Perunnal as i should call it rather still lies as a loving sweet memory in my life , in the distant past. Today with my brother, I had good mallu mappila food (non veg.. ob )in a good restaurant just after the morning Eid Namaz prayers
Thanks to the insistence of Assu(my bro), I went to mosque... Else , I was even planning to bunk it, because I feel I have no more Ids in my life
My parents had a Perunnal with vegetarian food... they had cut down the food luxuries as their austerity increased...
I had to perform Musabaat (Eid hug) with my bro repeatedly after we found ourselves alone in the mosque after namaz so as to compensate the warmth of the hug with the long queue of my dear ones back home
Looking back...........
The joy of the news of the Shawwal Pira (sighting of the moon) announcing the festival..
the anxiety before it..
The thakbeer filled atmosphere-Allahu Akbar allahu,,,,,,, valillahil hamd
The fitr Sakkath- the alms to the needy one the eve of Eid and the moring before Namaz
The big rice heap from which Baapa would measure out the sakkath in the form of rice
We children would stand with big papermade cones which are to be filled with rice and then packed .
We get the route maps of which house to go and whom to give the Sakkath
The Joy of the person who recieves it
and the infinite invitations we get on this way for the first breakfast after the 30 long fasting days of Ramzan
The white cap- clad white population in the mosque
The scent of Arabian athar (perfume) breezing through the mosque
The little boys and girls who wonder what their elders while the latter are doing in the namaz and why are they standing so still..
these kids playing pranks, playing hiding and seek with each other in the mosque in the safs(rows) of the mosque
I remember Jabbar Kochappa who dressed up little Hiba as a boy to the mosque on Id
The competition of the most colourful Perunnal Kodi(Sherwanis with golden embroidery and white kurtas)
If hyderbadis have haleem and what ever kebabs... , we in south kerala are not far behind
The aroma of neichoru(ghee rice) and mutton curry
The sight of thinnest aripathiri/palaka-rottis ...
dissolving in the scented coconut milk and then in the kuruma
Neimeen biriyani of Junaida Moothumma
The tables filled with best of the mappila delicacies
not those chattipathiri and Pola sort of Telichery stuff though
The semiya payasam served when we come back from the mosque
The afternoon nap after the heavy -heaviest breakfast and lunch
The evening tour with the big family..to the backwaters or the beach at Quilon
The commotion in the kitchen and fight for caseroles and 'adukkupathrams'
for packing out food for individual homes
The glitter on the face of Baapa when we are around him
Umma's repeated attempts to perfect her Biriyani
the actual recipe of which she does not know , truly
the visits as "food inspector" in houses around to taste the different preparations of
Biriyani and Neichoru and Mutton curries
The last Iranian dates(bought for breaking the fast) left after the month-long Nombu
which we steal, along with the Kaju and Kishmish from Biriyani-Payasam recipe
We had no Eid special films though, Doordarshan days na!!!