Experiences in Malaysia - Celebration, interactions and building relationships

It was a heart warming experience to celebrate Eid - the most popular festival of Malaysia with some of my amazing Muslim friends. My dear friend Sherhan who is popularly known as Chehan and who is also a very popular man of Malaysia came to pick me up from my home early in the morning. Sherhan and I took a 2 hour drive from Kuala Lumpur to the sub urban area of Malaysia. The roads were very smooth and we did not face too much of traffic. The drive was splendid indeed as I saw immense green cover by the road side. The way eid is celebrated over here is very interesting and can be easily related with Deepawali celebrations in India, just that the houses weren't decorated with lights, however the light of the heart and the warmth and care were not missing.

Eid was celebrated in 7 different houses, and each house prepared a special menu for the guests, the menu was sent to me a day in advance and I was told to keep my digestive system in place as we had to go to 7 different places to enjoy the delicacies and the peppy interactions over our meals. I was a highlight of the event as I was the only person from Hindu community who was participating in the Eid celebrations. I got a very warm welcome at Sakina's house and most people greeted me very curiously. Within seconds I was made to feel as comfortable as I was at my own home, people tried to speak Hindi and tried to talk to me about our famous King Khan. But a pretty girl made my day by comparing me with Hrithik Roshan. I got this compliment within the first minute of the meeting. I had many dishes in this house but the stand out dish was the soup served with vegetables and spicy sauce. It was a delight to interact with everyone. I still remember the names that are so similar to Indian names - Rizwan, Putri(meaning princess), Sakina, Farida, Nabeela, and so on. 

Sakina's house

After visiting Sakina's home we went to different places covering different homes. The most interesting thing was to see our convoy of cars that were increasing after the visit to every house. In each house I got a very warm welcome and was made to feel comfortable as if I was in my own house. I made some young students at Farida's home there names were Hridaya, Ada and Fateha. All of them were very energetic girls and knew how to sing Hindi songs. Each house had a stand out dish. In Sakina's house it was the soup and then in another house it was the coconut tomato curry, someone made chocolate laddus, and in another house it was Macaroni, the Malaysian drinks Sasi and teao were amazing refreshing. The preparation of most foods is very similar to Indian food. We drove in Sherhan's Mercedes to different places from 9am till 8pm. Tasting almost all kinds of Malaysian and at the end of the end even Thai and Chinese food. However my day did not end even at 8 pm. After 8 pm my dear friend gave me a very beautiful surprise and took me to the most famous Batu caves - the Hindu temple. Well the day did not end even after that; thereafter Sherhan took me to the top of a hill which is also known as the look out point in Malaysia. I thought after this Sherhan will take me back to my home, however the adventure did not stop here. Sherhan took me to an Indian restaurant to have some hot tea with milk. 

In the Indian restaurant I met Sherhan's father Mr Aziz. What a gentleman he was - a soft spoken humble and kind man. We had some daal, roti and tea at the Indian restaurant along with some meaningful conversations with Mr Aziz. The day ended but the memories will last forever. At night I got a message from Sherhan saying, 'Harshit you have a family in Malaysia and you don't have to worry about anything'. What can be better than that. While I was taking to Mr Aziz we discussed about great Muslims from India such as our former president Dr Abdul Kalam Azaz, Paramveer Chakra winner(Highest Gallantry award of India) Abdul Hamid and many more. What could we expect more from life when you have loving and caring people around you. 

Ada, Fateha, Hridaya