Selamba Party

Throughout the month of Ramadhan, so far, I've had the privilege of being chauffeured to and from the office. In the morning, normally Mak would send me to Dayabumi before attending her tadarus sessions or religious classes. My brother the Eternal Nocturnal would pick me up after work, sometimes with Nuaim in tow.

Last Friday, as usual brother dear met me in front of the Dayabumi entrance. I had my laptop with me, and a Strawberry Chocolate Kek Lapis that I intended to sample this weekend (you know, just in case I can't make it till Raya), but I put everything at my feet instead of the backseat as we had to go pick up my youngest sister from the UIA matriculation campus in PJ.

Unlike the previous trips I made to the campus, the security guard insisted that my brother pick up an entry pass before letting him drive in. When sis finally made her appearance, she announced that she wasn't going home that day as she had a test the next morning, but could we please drop her and her friends off in SS14 for a buka puasa meal. As Eternal Nocturnal was planning to detour in the same direction, we said okay. We spent another 15 minutes waiting for her friend to turn up, and picked up another one on the way out.

At the guard house, as my brother was returning the entry pass, the security guard remarked that we spent a long time in campus premises and proceeded to interrogate my brother. He duly informed that students who were not spending the night away from campus had to return to the grounds by 7 pm. That would put a damper on my sister's buka puasa plans, wouldn't it? I overheard the three of them hatching up some half-baked plan of sneaking in via the mosque after prayers to elude the security guard, so left it at that. Besides, they're 18, practically adults, so they should be able to take care of themselves, right?

So I was a bit more than surprised when my sister SMSed Mak, just before she left for terawih prayers, to say that she and her friends would be sleeping over. From what I managed to recall of their conversation in the car, the group consisted of two girls (my sister included) and three boys. The SMS didn't exactly specify how many (and also which of them) would be coming over, only my sister's assurance that 'they are nice people.'

At 10, my sister arrived with her friends in tow - one girl and FIVE boys. I sat there, trying to figure out the logistics of the situation. Where exactly are we going to put up the boys, seeing as we had no guest room available? They assured us they'd be comfortable enough in the living room. My next question was what if they need to use the bathroom, as the house was built in such a way that you could only access a bathroom via a bedroom, which, of course, were all occupied. Fortunately, when Mak finally arrived home from the mosque she took it all in her stride, and arranged for them to use the toilet attached to the maid's room. The maid didn't seem to mind. As she said to Mak, "Alah, budak-budak saja, Ibu. (Not to worry, they're only kids)."

Well, obviously they didn't get up to anything 'unbecoming', but I was just surprised that everyone else (except Ain and me) didn't feel awkward about the whole situation. I mean, at that age, aren't you supposed to be all raging hormones and feeling rebellious? Or does it only happen to those who've been released into the big bad world after being cooped up in single-sex boarding schools for five years? Well, THIS bunch certainly look tame and 'budak-budak' compared to our lot 13 years ago.