Episode 1428: The Return to the Roots

Over the past 7 years, I hadn’t got many chances to celebrate Lebaran at home, either because it fell during the exam period, or because it was simply inconvenient to make the trips home. It’s different this year, though. Took a couple of days off work to fly home and finally, I could celebrate the occasion right where it should be celebrated.

My family did our Eid prayer at Ciamis, a town in West Java where my dad is from. The khutbah (sermon) was conducted in Sundanese, yet amazingly I had no problem understanding the content! It was a personal achievement, despite my being born and bred in Bogor, considering these days I don’t really speak or hear the language :p

Met my dad’s side of the family, and of course, no visit to Aki and Nini (grandpa and grandma in Sundanese) would be complete without gurame bakar! The home-whipped dish is just soooo finger-licking delicious!

You see, my favourite thing about my paternal grandparents’ house is the many empang (fish ponds) they have around their house, where they breed gurame and various other fishes. Everytime we come for a visit, nearly without fail, one of my uncles would catch a gurame or two and barbecue them for us. Years ago, still vivid in my memory, my grandpa was the one who went through the hassle of ngala lauk (catching fish) and barbecuing while my uncle got us young coconuts for our drinks. It was easily the best Lebaran meal.    

This year, on our way back from Aki and Nini’s, we decided to have lunch at Racik Desa, a Sundanese restaurant by the paddy fields in Garut.

Digging into a traditional Sundanese meal on a saung (thatch-roofed gazebo) with the greens all around is simply an unrivalled dining experience.

Back in Bogor, it was time to get together with my mum’s side of the family. Until a few years ago, Yangti (short for Eyang Putri, which means grandma in Javanese) lived in Madiun, a town in East Java, so we would travel Bogor-Ciamis-Madiun-Ciamis-Bogor year-in and year-out. Now that she’s already moved to Bogor, my dad drove much less during Lebaran. If you’re wondering how much driving he used to do… well, Bogor-Ciamis is about 6.5 hours and Ciamis-Madiun is about 12 hours by car -you do the math :S

Anyway, one of my mum’s sisters arranged for an outdoor photo-taking session for the extended family and boy, was it quite a havoc! You see, Yangti has 7 children, 6 of which were present. On average, each of them came with a wife/husband and 2 kids, so it was quite a platoon to organize. Try picturing little kids (i.e. my cousins) who simply refused to face the camera, and some others who just wouldn’t stop running around, hurhur.

Meet some of my little cousins…

That’s Tio, who’s rather camera-shy (the above photo was taken after relentless cajoling)…

… and that’s Vito, who’s pretty sporting really :)

… and that’s Firza, who just couldn’t stop running around, climbing trees, etc ALL the time.

Despite all the chaos they’ve created, I secretly hope my little cousins are not growing up so fast and losing all that cute-as-a-button charm :)

To everyone, Happy Hari Raya Idul Fitri, Mohon Maaf Lahir & Batin!