We just went out for dinner and came back home. Here's what happened, since, and at dinner.
. So there's a bit of a back story. I'm a hopeless athlete and have been since the age of, well, since I was born. But obviously when I was young, we didnt know this. The Yusufs found out soon enough. And how. At school every year, we'd have an annual Sports Day, and all students were allotted to their respective houses. I was and always will be, from Jupiter. Jupiter was yellow, Mars red, Venus blue and Neptune green. The year was 1996. I was in Junior 1, and I was about to participate in my first ever Sports Day. Sports Day was held at the Kampung Pandan Stadium, which has an extremely rundown-about-to-be-devoured-by-termites Grand Stand. It was that way in 96, and it still is. And probably will be for the next 20 years. Anyway. So there I was, wearing my Jupiter shirt and shorts, all ready to go, and I find out from the house teachers that I'm in the Juniors relay race. It escapes me how many metres we were meant to run, but considering we were kids, not that much I presume. So there I am, in the relay race, and I had no idea what a baton was. I just knew I had to run. So as soon as the Jupiter runner passed me the baton, I ran. But I ran in the opposite direction. So while everyone was running towards the finish line, I ran towards the start line. I am really not making this up. This happened. And everyone started screaming. I realised midway through the track, changed direction and ran the right way. Unfortunately by then, we were in 2nd place. All because of me. And everyone in the Grand Stand was laughing at that little bony Indian child. So were my parents. And they were probably telling other people, 'Thank God that's not my child'.
So anyway, just keep in mind that this happened in 1996 and we're in 2011 now. That's 15 years. So we're at dinner and Mama says something and I go, 'I swear I'm going to run away. I cant stand you two'. Mama replies, 'Yeah, with your luck, you'll leave home, and then run back home, thinking you're running the opposite direction'. Desi people I tell you, remember things that happen in 1996.
. While we were coming back, we stopped at a traffic light. Now the area is one that Ive grown up in (Jalan Ampang), so we're quite familiar with every landmark there. While waiting at the lights, Mama noticed that the name for Lanson Place has changed. And she goes, O look, its some spa now. Now because the windows were up and there was drizzle on our windows, Mama couldnt see so clearly. She goes, 'O, look, its' called The Simpleton Spa'. The name is The Sompoton Spa.
. We came back and were watching the New Zealand-Lanka game. Since they're equally matched opponents in terms of cricket pow-wow I asked Mama who she was supporting. She replies, 'I always support the undeveloped, underdeveloped nations. I'm supporting Sri Lanka.' Unfortunately for me, her support made all the difference tonight.
. Yeah, just baai the waaay Mr. Third Umpire, Jayawardene was totally out.
. So while we were watching the game, Papa was praying Isha. Therefore the game was on mute and we were talking in hushed tones, as we always do. For some reason, in the midst of it, Mama and I both thought that Papa was done, because it sounded like he was packing up the prayer mat and all that, so Mama unmuted the TV. And as the two of us look over to Papa, we see he's still praying. And Mama's like, 'O, I thought he was done.' I replied, 'Yeah, thats what I thought too. Yknow, maybe he's praying 2 rakat Shukrana namaaz'. Before I go on, Salat-as-Shukr or Shukrana, is a small namaaz one prays when he would like to offer thanks to Allah for whatever reason. Ive prayed it on almost all major occassions of my life, and sometimes, just because there's so much to thank Him for. So anyway, I was like, he's praying Shukrana namaaz. And then I added, 'He's praying that because he wants to thank Allah for being gifted a child as brilliant as me'.
Mama responds, 'If anything Abeer, I think he's thanking Allah that he doesnt have more than one Abeer to deal with.'
:D :D
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