Not Even a 10-seater Table

Time stood still for many days.

Now there is movement, albeit slow and sluggish. And it was in this blessed month of Ramadhan that I met great personalities, here in the blogsphere. Ramadhan Kareem to you great friends.

This year's Ramadhan is taking shape, but the colours are waning. Perhaps it is natural to have less people around as the year marches on.. i'm sure it is natural .. but, pardon me, I can't help the tinge of sadness welling up inside me now.

Normally the dining table was abuzz at iftar. Hands criss-crossing reaching, and sometimes fighting for delectable savouries. A few had to give in, and sit at the satellite-table; not a glamorous destination for sure. Normally Adik, ARahman and Eha, sometimes Huda had to do it when the population swells. It was not a very happy compromise, but they never complained, and I thought it was natural for the younger ones to yield.

Only this year that I got the tail-end of the typhoon; they did mind. Though Dad could not decipher the 'resentment', their mom had to bear it all.

This year we opt for a 10 seater dining table, keeping the satellite for a rainy day. Oh yes, everybody was beaming and lots of past stories of pent-up 'frustration' surfaced.

"I was always satellite-d"

"Why do I always have to be away from mom and dad, and granny? Why cant the elder siblings too, take the satellite?"

Yes.. why cant they? Funny I never thought of them resenting. In front of Dad, everything seems calm and sweet. Underneath... only mommies could discern.

And the sweet thing about this banter is that they are able to enjoy venting out their 'frustrations' and laugh together at their predicament.

And.. this year.. the table is a quarter occupied, not even half. No one could blame me for this forlorn mood. Not even a 10-seater table could bring back time.

I must get used to this population thinning. And that I will spend more hours with le Countess, just the two of us..

And it can get really lonely