MY FIRST (AND LAST) RAYA CARD THIS YEAR

At last, my first Raya card arrived from Australia today, and that could the only one for this year's Eid that was sent via post. (I think there are 4 cards sent by hand for me). I guess people do not send real cards anymore. They either send sms or post season's greetings on Facebook. I myself only sent cards to my friends abroad. One reason why I have stopped is the postage cost has increased and the second reason I have doubt whether my friends will reply if I send them cards. I wonder my reason of not sending card to save planet earth is acceptable or not.

Do you still remember the time when you came back from work or school, the first thing you checked was the mailbox at home? The experience of holding the cards, anticipating who the senders were and reading the messages inside, were much more thrilling. Too bad, this kind of thing does not happen anymore nowadays.

People have already started posting Eid messages on Facebook and with technology, they could come up with self-invented cards with their photographs on theb graphics, of course. Then, friends on the list will be tagged onto the card and wishes for Eid are sent. I already find people tagging me on the self-made cards quite irritating because my wall will be flooded with messages of people responding. In fact, I have to untag myself in one of my Facebook accounts which is specifically created for the school community. There are about 1300 people in my list and the network is always buzzing with activities but too much tagging will drive me nuts. Life has been made easy for us but that is nothing compared to the effort of choosing and buying cards, writing messages and pantun, and lastly going to the post office.

When I was younger, my two favourite pantun that were written in cards sent or replied were:

Pecah kaca pecah gelas, sudah baca harap balas

[translate: after you have received the card, please reply]

Pecah kaca pecah sampan, sudah baca harap simpan

[translate: after you have read the card, please keep it]

But gone are the days. Anyway, thanks a lot to Mr. Ridwan (and the wife and daughter too) for the lovely card which has travelled thousands of miles. Will there be another card for me next year?

Thanks to Mr. Ridhwan,my ex-coursemate from my TESL UPM group, for his kind gesture.I really appreciate it.