Hari Raya Qurban

It was my 2nd consecutive Raya Qurban in Jakarta.

At 5.45am I was all geared up to head to Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque for the Eid ul Adha’s prayers. By 6.00am the taxi arrived.

I was excited as this was going to be my first visit to Istiqlal.

I honestly thought I was early. Upon reaching Istiqlal, I was astonished to see thousands of people who were already creating a long queue at the main gate to enter the mosque.

Berdoyun-doyun orang nak masuk mesjid

Pakcik jual peci (ketayap)

The atmosphere was carnival-like. There were peddlers selling skull-caps, sandals, traditional medicines and of course, food. Dah rasa macam Pasar Tani plak dah.

I was approached by a teenage boy offering me a black plastic bag. Nasib baik aku dah bawak dari rumah. Plestik beg ni untuk isi kasut. Bijak tak aku? Anak sapa le ni.

Anyway, I managed to inched my way to the ground floor entrance. Tak pernah seumur hidup aku bila nak masuk masjid kena go through the metal detector apparatus. Well, that’s Jakarta folks! Nak masuk malls ada menda ni, nak masuk exhibition halls pun ade, nak masuk hotel ade, nak masuk masjid pun ada!

But I guessed it was only because the Bapak President was attending the prayers there, the police had to take precautionary measures.

Ok. Back to the mosque. This place was huge! I was a bit disoriented and followed the crowd hoping that I would be led to the main hall. Unfortunately, the main hall was already full and the jemaah were beginning to form saf on the huge open-air compound just outside the main hall.

I was left with no other option but to find a place on the open-air compound. But there was a slight problem. It seemed every other jemaah had brought along prayer mats and some had newspapers as the prayer mat.

Mana aku nak cekau paper ni? Nak mintak kat orang segan. Pesal la tak bawak dari rumah tadi. Bodoh tak aku? Anak sapa le ni.

I looked around and suddenly I saw a cowok standing not far from me holding what seemed to be newspapers. Alhamdulillah. I approached him and bought two pieces of newspapers for Rp1000 (40 sen). Enterprising sungguh mamat tu.

See that guy holding newspapers? I bought my "sejadah" from him.

Nampak mamat berdiri pakai vest jacket tu? He's a photographer complete with a portable printer hung from his neck. Enterprising sungguh.... anak sapa le ni.

I joined the saf and waited for about half an hour before it was announced Bapak President had arrived and soon after the payers began.

After the sermon, as the jemaah dispersed, I made my way to the main hall. Besor benor main hall nyer. There were four floors of prayer areas on each side of the hall. The huge columns were just breathtaking.

After snapping a few pics, I left the mosque. Since it was still early, I decided to walk to Monumen Nasional (Monas) which was adjacent to Istiqlal. I walked, and walked and walked. Bila naik teksi rasa macam dekat je. Tapi bila jalan kaki baru le tau betapa luas nyer kawasan Monas ni.

Monas, also dubbed as Soekarno's last erection.

Lepas Monas, bagaikan magic, tetiba aku sampai depan Istana Merdeka. Then, ntah apa kena ngan aku pagi tu, I continued my morning walk until I reached Starbucks (next to Sari Pan Pacific) where I had my Raya meal. Sedihkan, makan pagi raya kat Starbucks. Hehe… takde rendang tuna sandwich pun jadile.

Istana Merdeka

I was invited to my boss’s house for Raya lunch but I was too tired to go.Ye lah, pepagi dah jadi macam V. Anggamah jalan about 5 km mau nyer tak penat.

Juadah ku di pagi Raya...