Does my head look big in this?

*in a blogging frenzy!*

On a last minute decision, we dropped by Midvalley on the way back from our hometown last night. Only one thing can stop my dad from making a detour from his every meticulous one-year ahead planning; which is the big sale at MPH Bookstore.

With no book in mind that I was searching for, I browsed around fiction, fantasy, thriller... and stopped abruptly in my tracks at "General Reader" because the title "Does my head look big in this? by Randa Abdel Fattah" immediately caught my eye. And suddenly I felt like this surge.. that sometime (quite a long time ago) I was so hyped up on wanting to read the book and then I sort of forgot about it. I became really excited at that moment. Never in my life had I feel such a feeling like.. finding a lost memory.

I started reading the book this morning and it is an absolute page-turner; that i can assure. I've only reached chapter 8 but with a heavy heart, had to put the book down to get some work done. The story is about a 16-year old Australian-Palestinian who is in a conflict as to whether she can face wear the hijab "full-time"; this together with still keeping her friends and getting the cutest guy at school. It would be quite difficult for some Malaysians to relate to the book, since we live in a society where everyone is very much used to the hijab.

But incredibly, I can relate to a lot of the things written in there well. As I read it, it brought a lot of memories from my childhood- having spent my primary schooling years in an International School. Although we lived in the Middle East, the school I attended had all the teachers and students coming from England, Scotland, Nigeria, Holland etc. So I did pretty much live in that kind of environment where it's like living in a society where you are the different one.

It brought a lot of memories especially when I remember those moments where my "Islamic side" stood out. Take for example when I was in primary 2, the teacher asked us to bring music- at that time, I was not entirely sure why, and later I found out that it was for the game Musical Chairs. My biggest worry at that time was not that they wouldn't be able to accept the songs I listen to-but rather the fact that our family listened to Nasyids; and I was worried they wouldn't understand the Malay-lyrics of Raihan's melodious singing. So I got the cassette (yes, that was more than a decade ago) to an English song- which is I cannot recall at the moment- so that when it was played, at least they get some kind of meaning. Alas, the cassette having its never understanding "side A, side B" issues played the different side and we were all rounding the chairs to the malay-singing nasyid.

Other moments included having to sit in a different classroom while everyone were eating during break during Ramadhan. I got really annoyed when there was this one boy who kept asking me why I wear a scarf. I wasn't that smart at the time, so I had no powerful comeback I could have retorted. What more me being an awfully timid child at the time (who would have believed it lol!). There was one time, a different boy kept pulling my scarf when I was on the school van and I always teared-up upon reaching home. My mom was very much puzzled as to why I would be sulking until she found out what was actually going on. She did what any mom would do- and I never got bothered again.

My friends wore shorts and baby tees and I was always with the hijab. It wasn't that lonely since Nurun too wore it. And I think that's mainly how we became really close.

I didn't feel that 'oppressed' or 'disturbed' though- maybe because I was not yet a teenager; and still far away from my egoistic phase. Besides, we were all kids. And like all kids, we looked beyond everything. Sometimes I get comments from my teachers about my "lovely brooch".

I was invited to birthday parties, we laughed, we joked, we did sports and I was just like the rest of them. In the world we live in today; where people think veiled Muslimahs are a sign of oppression and terrorism, it makes me smile thinking that I was so very lucky to be able to experience a time and place where that peace existed- and hopefully still exists and forever will.