Unfortunate Event At The Time Of Marhaban

     Eighth day of hari raya.  Still in Hari Raya mood.  This time, I'm going to write about an event that happened to a small boy who was supposed to be involved in 'marhaban'.

     At Kampung Batu 6 Bakri, one of the ways that villagers ask for forgiveness from friends who stay in the same village is by gathering at certain houses, reciting certain verses called 'marhaban' and then, after enjoying some refreshment offered by the host, start to shake hands while asking for forgiveness.  Through this way, they do not have to spend a long time visiting one house after another which, of course, saves a lot of time.

     In this village, the performance of Marhaban in seventy five houses starts from around 8.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. every day for three consecutive days.  More or less one hundred male villagers from as young as two years old until as old as sixty years old indulge themselves in this act.  However, some of the boys try to find something else to do while performing marhaban as the time seems too long.  That is how some of  them suddenly got into mischief.

    Two boys, Abu and Bakar (not their real names) were trying to find something interesting to do while performing marhaban, when they saw the a bus coming down the road towards the town.  Seeing the bus coming in their direction, a brilliant idea struck Abu.  As his uncle was the driver, surely he would stop to let Abu and Bakar get a ride to town if Abu stopped the bus.  Therefore, Abu waved his hand and sure enough,  the bus stopped.  Abu got into the bus but Bakar had another idea.  Instead of going up the stairs, he ran to the back of the bus and climbed an iron ladder which led to the roof.  The bus started to move while Abu moved to the back of the bus to open the emergency door at the back so that Bakar could enter.  Unfortunately, as Abu was still small, he was not able to open the rear exit door whhile the bus was moving.  Starting to get frustrated, Bakar decided to jump off the ladder he was on.  And jumped he did.  The impact of the fall from a moving bus made him lose his balance and he stumbled on the hard tarmac which grazed his knee cap and arm.

      Alamak!  Prrgh...! quite painful.  Bakar sat on the grass, consoling and pacifying himself. "Serves me right for trying to be mischievous".

     Soon the bus that his friend had hailed appeared with the worried looking driver behind the wheel.  But Bakar didn't want to get into the bus when offered.  Instead, he was happier to join the congregation in performing the Marhaban.  Limping a little, he quickly walked towards the house where the rest of the people were.  A painful way to learn a lesson.  Never digress from what you are doing!