After having set up my small retreat in this village some five years ago, I decided to spend our Hari Raya Idilfitri with the local community here so that we can guage whether we have been accepted as part of the kampong community. After all we have got to know quite a number of the locals. We have frequented the popular coffee shop "Pak Andak's Place", the biggest provision shop "Pasarmini Ramadan" and the only village mosque. We have even made house visits to a few of our neighbours both original villagers and recent residents who have made Janda Baik their homes.
During the two days prior to Hari Raya, whenever we met local residents that we have become aqainted with we invited them to visit us on hari raya day as is normal done in other parts of Malaysia. We were very surprised to experience no house calls at all for the whole of the two days of Hari Raya we were day. The extend and intermitten heavy rains did not help either. Except for a Canadian friend who is married to a Malaysian and his daughter who lives on their beautiful farm not very far from us and two friends and their families who have come all the way from Kuala Lumpur who turned up on the 2nd day, our food preparation for the festive season would have been totally wasted. Fortunately our farm workers were not at all bashful at helping themselves.
So by late evening on the 2nd day we decided to return home to Shah Alam.
MSAbdullah.
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3 comments:
We had Raya open house in Janda Baik 3 years ago, expecting that the whole kampung would come since we invited everyone and kampung people usually do turn up in big numbers. Shockingly, only a handful turned up, and lots of the food were wasted. I guess we should've advised u earlier :)
Thank you for your comment. I guess the folks there are quite shy or rather would require more familiarity before they open up to us coming from outside.
May be we should set the trend by getting to know more of our neighbours.
MSAbdullah
Contrary to my earlier view, I think the folks in Janda Baik have very high expectation and taste. Last Saturday when one of the palacial home here open its doors for a grand open house, apparently their second since establishing their holiday home here,almost the whole village turned up for the occasion.Food and drinks flowed lavishly with saperate tents catering for different tastes. There was also life band to complete the fair.
It was truely a grand occasion for this normally quiet village. We must all thank the generous host for taking so much effort to plan such a memorable reception.
MSAbdullah.
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