Light Upon Light

#21 The Moments of Joy

Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

Lovely readers here is the next update. Though it seems kind of boring to me in some parts, there are moments in it that are adorable to me.

Read and tell me what you think.

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#21 The Moments of Joy

While the last ten days of Ramadan brought sadness upon its ending, the prospect of Eid was exciting.

Upon Dadi's suggestion, Di and I spent every night staying up late as far as we could. We recited Qur'an, read Ahadith and discussed them. We prayed Qiyam ul Layl and we always woke each other up for Tahajjud. The first few nights were really tiring and I even refused to wake up for Tahajjud. It was difficult for me to skip sleep and then remain active in classes.

So when Saira ma'am announced that school would remain closed from the 25th of Ramadan till a few days after leave, I was one of the few who cheered loudly in happiness. As much as I liked everything else in Salimabad, school was something that still bothered me at times.

Around the 28th of Ramadan preparations for Eid had already started in the Ashiana household. I almost had a sense of deja vú on coming back home from Dar-e-Rahma after iftaar to find ayahs packing supplies in the courtyard again. This time it was to ensure that no household went hungry during Eid.

Apparently it was not just from the members of Ashiana but every family under the Yahya Masjid had contributed as part of their fitr zakat. Despite being equipped to comfortably house a congregation of all the families of this district, the Masjid didn't have the kind of facility required for this task. So all the supplies were hauled in here by the volunteers of the youth group.

The next day all of it would be distributed by the same volunteers to all those households whose members can't afford to have one square meal a day. Since all the boys had to go pray Isha and Taraweeh, the ayahs had taken over the packing.

None of the ladies of the house were to be found. Mom was feeling a bit sick so she retired to her room after meeting Dadi. The latter told me that all the ladies are in the kitchen. And so after dumping my stuff in my room I went down by the back stairs to the kitchen. Even if we didn't have dinner per say after Taraweeh, some of the gents liked having gruel or soup.

Chachi was preparing tea that the men took in flasks to the masjid. Razi Phuppi was preparing snacks to go along with it. Di was making coffee because that's what Samir and Samar preferred.

"Assalamualaikum ladies! Looks like you're all quite busy," I said smiling.

All of them turned to look at me, smiles gracing their faces as they returned my salaam.

"Look who's back!" Di said pinching my cheek.

I swatted her hand away.

"You know I hate that," I whined.

"But I still love doing it. You look adorable when you scrunch your face up like a little kid," Di said chuckling.

I laughed along.

Later that night I fell asleep on the prayer mat in my room. I was in such a deep slumber that I didn't even realize Di was knocking on my door. I didn't even wake up until she shook me into consciousness.

"Let me sleep Di. I'm tired." I mumbled groggily.

"Someone rang the doorbell. I'm sure it is not either of the Maamus or our brothers. It is not yet time for their return."

That made me alert. Quickly rubbing the sleep off my eyes, I got up and folded my prayer mat and put everything away and rushed downstairs with Di. This time I heard the bell ring as well. Curiosity had as us all perked up and worried as well. All the ladies were down in the courtyard when Di and I reached there. It was Razi Phuppi who pulled open the two big doors.