So, the second-last or the last day of Ramzan is finally here…and now Eid’s just around the corner, the choti Eid that is celebrated with so much more fervor and excitement than Eid-ul-Bakra. I guess after fasting every day from sunrise to sunset for a month, not listening to music or watching TV(for most of us, anyway), feeling generally tired and weak most of the day does give one cause to celebrate when one has sacrificed so much for so long. Abstaining from food and drink, especially in summer, is a much bigger sacrifice than a few bakras and a cow. Even though this year…it’s not the same. Not for me, not for many people…October 8th is something that will affect even this. Not that I dun feel like celebrating Eid, but it’s just that the excitement is somewhat tamed…thinking about what has happened to all those families, the rich as well as the poor…any description of their plight would be but a cliché. It’s ironic, because this is probably going to be the best Eid of my life. I have not told anyone who visits this blog other than waj, because it wasn’t final yet…but I’m going to Karachi for Eid for the first time in my life. And what is Eid all about? It’s meeting your relatives, chilling out with cousins, family outings, etc, which we dun get time for in the normal days. And where is my family? Except for a few in Lahore and abroad, they’re all stuffed into Karachi for some inexplicable reason. I mean, all of them are originally from Delhi, but after the partition, half goes to Lahore, half to Karachi, after a few years, they all shift to Karachi or go to America or Saudi Arabia…crazy bunch of people…no wonder I’m the way I am… Anyways, my Eid was always pretty boring, with half my Lahori cousins taking off for Karachi, remaining relatives taken care of in the first 2 hours of Eid day, and the rest of eid spent visiting my father’s friends *YAWNNNNN*…but this time, oh, this time!!!! Now, my dad simply HATES Karachi because the climate makes him sick, so he never goes with us if he can help it, but THIS TIME, my Taya’s called him and ordered him to come and visit him...for his ‘aakhri Eid’…my Taya has cancer, incurable, not a thing to be happy about, but he’s more depressed than anything else, so it’s incumbent on my dad to keep fulfilling his ‘aakhri khwahishain’ for as long as Taya likes, which, incidentally, have been going on for more than a year. I’ll write about his pain some other time…it’s not the time to think abt death right now. Hence, I’m off to Karachi to celebrate Eid as it should be celebrated for the first time in my life…but it’s going to be a much quieter affair than before…just because even while smiling and laughing, and getting excited about seeing my cousins again…something just strikes me here whenever my cup threatens to run over…