Unforgettable
An Eid to remember
By Qadijah S.Irshad
Special to Gulf News
Four families in the UAE talk about their most memorable day
Reem Obaidat
Unesco Chair for Women and Media, Dubai Women’s College
“I am the eldest in my family and at that time I had two younger brothers. In Jordan in the 1970s, people had big families — seven and eight children was quite normal.
“I wanted a sister most in my life. I used to be so sad because I didn’t have one. I would always wonder what it would be like to exchange clothes and go to the hairdressers when we grew up. I was really affected by the fact that I didn’t have a sister,” says Reem.
“I was also a lonely child. Both my parents were politicians and had busy lives. Even at 10, I was largely responsible for our home and my little brothers, and not having a sister to share things with was very painful.
“I remember clearly. It was the night before Eid, and my mother who was pregnant had been working hard that day, cleaning, washing clothes and getting the house in order. One of our neighbours had come to borrow something and when my mother went to the kitchen to get it, she started shivering.
“So she simply sat down and said, ‘I’m going to have the baby’, then went calmly and started packing her bag and called my father.”
Fifteen minutes later Reem’s greatest dream came true when her father called in to say, ‘Reem, we just had Mayy’, the name she had chosen if the baby was a girl.
“I still remember the elation I felt that day,” recalls Reem. We lived on the fourth floor and I ran down the steps like crazy, knocking on all our neighbours’ doors, screaming “Mayy has arrived! Mayy has arrived!
“We spent the whole of that Eid in hospital, and to this day, it has been the most special one because it brought a special person into our world.”
Zahra Khamissa
For Zahra Khamissa, a 14-year-old Canadian living in Dubai, her “best Eid ever” was the one spent with her grandparents and cousins in Canada the first time after coming to Dubai.
“We’ve always spent Eid at my (paternal) grandparents’ house and throughout my life it has always been a special time. It was one of the things I missed most after coming to Dubai,” says Zahra.
“As far back as I can remember, every Eid has been special to me, but I value this one so much more, probably because we’re apart now, and we all missed celebrating it together,” she says.
For her grandparents, although the rest of the family’s there, there would always be that one empty chair.
“My cousins would email me every year and say ‘we missed you so much, and we were looking at your chair and crying…’” she adds.
Zahra reminisces, “Eid is always a big family affair in Canada. We would gather with my uncles and all my cousins at my grandma’s place. She has this really big house and no matter what happens, we would have dinner there.
“Last year, when I woke up at my grandma’s on Eid, I had this really special feeling. After the Eid prayers I was hugging all the people I missed so much. We went out visiting friends as usual then, but had to be back by 4pm in time for dinner, which would always be shrimps followed by rice pudding, a traditional family meal.
“Afterwards we’d go back and take pictures. That year we took so many of them. And usually the family would always separate — the boys, the girls and the adults — and how we talked and talked that day.”
About Dubai, she says, “We have some really good friends here, and as Muslims, Eid is a special time. You can celebrate it with anyone you like, but there’s nothing like spending it with your family.”
Kassali Mohammad
Kassali Mohammad is from a typical close-knit South Indian family. Having grown up in the village of Pudupatti in Tamil Nadu, Eid had always been an affair to remember each year, with the whole village getting together to celebrate.
But with the sons and daughters growing up and moving out of India, the 45-member family assembling together for a traditional Eid back home was a sporadic event, until three years back.
“That year, I went back to my village to celebrate Eid after 10 years. That year, in 2001, we planned in advance a celebration back home with the entire family — uncles, nieces, nephews and grandchildren.
“It remains one of the most memorable days of my life. I met relatives I hadn’t seen for years. My daughter met aunts, uncles and cousins she had never met before. Little children I knew had grown up and got married.
"Faces had changed, many new members were added in the family, but the best thing was to see that the bond that keeps our family strong had remained constant,” remembers Kassali Mohammad.
He adds, “Before we went, there was much planning to make sure that our people from all over the world would be able to make it at the same time. I remember the day before Eid and on the Eid day itself we talked into the night and didn’t sleep a wink. There was so much catching up to do.
"So many stories to be exchanged, happy ones, sad ones… and of course reliving the past… It was absolutely wonderful. And on the day of the Eid, after the prayers, we all visited old classmates and the rest of the village. It was truly a festival to remember and I will treasure it all my life.”
Naseem Mohammad Rafee
Naseem Mohammed Rafee, a UAE national, has spent many of her Eids in different countries, but the one she holds closest to her heart is the one spent in Malaysia last year.
“I had the most wonderful time of life,” says Naseem.
“We went to Malaysia on the 29th day of Ramadan, and it was the first time I had gone to another country during the day of fasting so it was quite an interesting experience to actually watch Eid unfold.
“I think it was especially wonderful because it was a Muslim country. I’m sure in other countries — I’ve been to Greece and Turkey as well — people respect our culture, but Eid is just another day. But in Malaysia, it was so festive and so different from the Eid celebrations here in the UAE,” she says.
She explains, “What struck me special about this country, and quite different from Muscat and Kuwait on Eid, was its people. They were amazingly friendly and so hospitable.
For instance almost all the staff at the hotel we were staying insisted that we join them in the Eid celebration because we didn’t have any family there. And everywhere we went, rich or poor, people would say Salaam Alaiekum and Eid Mubarak.
“That Eid had so many highlights, but one of the things I thoroughly enjoyed was shopping at Times Square, while my husband and daughter Shirin, stood around impatiently.
"We had our lunch at 6pm that day because of the incredible queues. Then of course dinner at the revolving restaurant at the Twin Towers — for which we got a table after much trouble because we hadn’t booked in advance.
“On the second day of Eid we went to Gentings Highland — one of the most beautiful places, where I was literally surrounded by the clouds.
"While at the entertainment park there, it suddenly started raining, it was actually a thunder storm, and I was the only crazy person who didn’t carry an umbrella — that was wonderful. We had so much fun. That’s one place I’d love to spend Eid again.”
By Qadijah S.Irshad
Special to Gulf News
Four families in the UAE talk about their most memorable day
Reem Obaidat
Unesco Chair for Women and Media, Dubai Women’s College
“I am the eldest in my family and at that time I had two younger brothers. In Jordan in the 1970s, people had big families — seven and eight children was quite normal.
“I wanted a sister most in my life. I used to be so sad because I didn’t have one. I would always wonder what it would be like to exchange clothes and go to the hairdressers when we grew up. I was really affected by the fact that I didn’t have a sister,” says Reem.
“I was also a lonely child. Both my parents were politicians and had busy lives. Even at 10, I was largely responsible for our home and my little brothers, and not having a sister to share things with was very painful.
“I remember clearly. It was the night before Eid, and my mother who was pregnant had been working hard that day, cleaning, washing clothes and getting the house in order. One of our neighbours had come to borrow something and when my mother went to the kitchen to get it, she started shivering.
“So she simply sat down and said, ‘I’m going to have the baby’, then went calmly and started packing her bag and called my father.”
Fifteen minutes later Reem’s greatest dream came true when her father called in to say, ‘Reem, we just had Mayy’, the name she had chosen if the baby was a girl.
“I still remember the elation I felt that day,” recalls Reem. We lived on the fourth floor and I ran down the steps like crazy, knocking on all our neighbours’ doors, screaming “Mayy has arrived! Mayy has arrived!
“We spent the whole of that Eid in hospital, and to this day, it has been the most special one because it brought a special person into our world.”
Zahra Khamissa
For Zahra Khamissa, a 14-year-old Canadian living in Dubai, her “best Eid ever” was the one spent with her grandparents and cousins in Canada the first time after coming to Dubai.
“We’ve always spent Eid at my (paternal) grandparents’ house and throughout my life it has always been a special time. It was one of the things I missed most after coming to Dubai,” says Zahra.
“As far back as I can remember, every Eid has been special to me, but I value this one so much more, probably because we’re apart now, and we all missed celebrating it together,” she says.
For her grandparents, although the rest of the family’s there, there would always be that one empty chair.
“My cousins would email me every year and say ‘we missed you so much, and we were looking at your chair and crying…’” she adds.
Zahra reminisces, “Eid is always a big family affair in Canada. We would gather with my uncles and all my cousins at my grandma’s place. She has this really big house and no matter what happens, we would have dinner there.
“Last year, when I woke up at my grandma’s on Eid, I had this really special feeling. After the Eid prayers I was hugging all the people I missed so much. We went out visiting friends as usual then, but had to be back by 4pm in time for dinner, which would always be shrimps followed by rice pudding, a traditional family meal.
“Afterwards we’d go back and take pictures. That year we took so many of them. And usually the family would always separate — the boys, the girls and the adults — and how we talked and talked that day.”
About Dubai, she says, “We have some really good friends here, and as Muslims, Eid is a special time. You can celebrate it with anyone you like, but there’s nothing like spending it with your family.”
Kassali Mohammad
Kassali Mohammad is from a typical close-knit South Indian family. Having grown up in the village of Pudupatti in Tamil Nadu, Eid had always been an affair to remember each year, with the whole village getting together to celebrate.
But with the sons and daughters growing up and moving out of India, the 45-member family assembling together for a traditional Eid back home was a sporadic event, until three years back.
“That year, I went back to my village to celebrate Eid after 10 years. That year, in 2001, we planned in advance a celebration back home with the entire family — uncles, nieces, nephews and grandchildren.
“It remains one of the most memorable days of my life. I met relatives I hadn’t seen for years. My daughter met aunts, uncles and cousins she had never met before. Little children I knew had grown up and got married.
"Faces had changed, many new members were added in the family, but the best thing was to see that the bond that keeps our family strong had remained constant,” remembers Kassali Mohammad.
He adds, “Before we went, there was much planning to make sure that our people from all over the world would be able to make it at the same time. I remember the day before Eid and on the Eid day itself we talked into the night and didn’t sleep a wink. There was so much catching up to do.
"So many stories to be exchanged, happy ones, sad ones… and of course reliving the past… It was absolutely wonderful. And on the day of the Eid, after the prayers, we all visited old classmates and the rest of the village. It was truly a festival to remember and I will treasure it all my life.”
Naseem Mohammad Rafee
Naseem Mohammed Rafee, a UAE national, has spent many of her Eids in different countries, but the one she holds closest to her heart is the one spent in Malaysia last year.
“I had the most wonderful time of life,” says Naseem.
“We went to Malaysia on the 29th day of Ramadan, and it was the first time I had gone to another country during the day of fasting so it was quite an interesting experience to actually watch Eid unfold.
“I think it was especially wonderful because it was a Muslim country. I’m sure in other countries — I’ve been to Greece and Turkey as well — people respect our culture, but Eid is just another day. But in Malaysia, it was so festive and so different from the Eid celebrations here in the UAE,” she says.
She explains, “What struck me special about this country, and quite different from Muscat and Kuwait on Eid, was its people. They were amazingly friendly and so hospitable.
For instance almost all the staff at the hotel we were staying insisted that we join them in the Eid celebration because we didn’t have any family there. And everywhere we went, rich or poor, people would say Salaam Alaiekum and Eid Mubarak.
“That Eid had so many highlights, but one of the things I thoroughly enjoyed was shopping at Times Square, while my husband and daughter Shirin, stood around impatiently.
"We had our lunch at 6pm that day because of the incredible queues. Then of course dinner at the revolving restaurant at the Twin Towers — for which we got a table after much trouble because we hadn’t booked in advance.
“On the second day of Eid we went to Gentings Highland — one of the most beautiful places, where I was literally surrounded by the clouds.
"While at the entertainment park there, it suddenly started raining, it was actually a thunder storm, and I was the only crazy person who didn’t carry an umbrella — that was wonderful. We had so much fun. That’s one place I’d love to spend Eid again.”
![36_2_25[1]](http://static.flickr.com/53/152362417_eb6e804f5b_o.gif)