There are two major Muslim festivals each year. The first and most important is Id-Ul-Fitr, Ramadan Festival Day, which marks Ramadan’s end. The second is Id-Ul-Alha, Hadji Festival Day. Both include a tradition of giving new clothes to those you visit that day, generally just family.
Since we’d heard last night that Fathima, her husband, and children were coming to Colombo on Monday and would be here until the following Saturday due to the death of Dubai’s ruler Sheik Maktoum, we knew we’d have to buy them clothes as well.
Conveniently, we found out last night, so no last minute shopping worries for us. 🙂
We headed to Majestic City and hoped we’d be able to take care of everything there.
On our way in, we’re stopped by some guy who hugs Fahim and then me. What the…? Turns out it’s a long-lost friend of Fahim’s, Kro. We stoood there for a while, chatting with him, his brother, and his girlfriend. His brother correctly identifies my accent as Canadian. I’m floored. 😀
Turns out that both Kro and his brother have lived in Canada for a good portion of their lives, and the brother lives in Toronto currently, although he’s planning a move to Vancouver. So we discussed cost of living in the Lower Mainland. :p And weather. Because all Canadians always talk about weather, especially how cold it is. :p
Nothing like generalizing generalizations. 😀
Then we went shopping. We stopped in Hameedia‘s, which was much larger than the Hameedia’s in CresCat (unfortunately, they have no women’s clothing on their site, nor do they have sharwanis.) We ended up buying all the clothing for the men and a shalwaar kit for Fahim’s sister. Two tops, one scarf, one pants, all matching. Cool!
In Majestic City, we wandered into a sari shop and got gouged for a silk sari for Fahim’s mom and wandered into a children’s clothing store (the same one Kim, Ike, and I stopped in and bought shorts and shirts for Ike) to get clothes for the kids.
Whew! Successful!
Of course, Fahim left color and style choices up to me. He’s useless at it (yep, we both agree on that :p) and, despite me knowing nothing about the preferences of the recipients, I get saddled with it.
Except for Malli’s shirt. Fahim picked a color (which I didn’t like) and when I asked why that color, he said, "Because Malli doesn’t have anything in that color." Um, yeah, Fahim, there’s probably a reason for that. *rolleyes*
