BY THE RIVERSIDE 3

The old mosque where I went for Friday prayer during my primary school years was situated by the same river that I described in 'BY THE RIVERSIDE 1'. On Friday, before I went  the mosque I would head to the market area which was just next to the mosque. The 'Pasar Jumaat' would be on and there would be a lot of interesting things and food sold there. I would put my 'kain pelekat' and 'songkok lipat' in my bag (together with my school books of course) and off I would go to the 'Pasar Jumaat'. I always went alone and up until today, I have always preferred going out to certain places all by myself. A few years ago, the local authorities decided to relocate the old market to a new place quite far from town. Back then, FYI, the boys (Standard 1 until Form 3) wore shorts to school. Only the upper form students wore long pants. After I reached the mosque, I would immediately wear my 'kain pelekat' over my sexy short pants to cover my 'aurat'. When I reflect upon the whole thing, it seems quite funny to me. After I took my 'wuduk', I 'd go inside the mosque to find a place to sit. I always sat at the back row because I needed a place to put my school bag. I was afraid someone would take my bag if I left it outside. There was nothing truly valuable in that bag actually but the thought of losing it was unbearable for a schoolboy like me. Sometimes, I would go to the river bank where I could see many other boys around my age playing and horsing around in the water before prayer time. Nothing seemed to trouble them at all. There would also be a few adults taking their baths in the river but unlike the boys, they wore the 'supposedly' more decent 'kain basah' (most of the boys were in their briefs). Passing through the town a few weekends ago on my way to Bidor, I was shocked to see the old mosque beside the river was being torn down. I found out from the locals that a new mosque would be built at the same spot. It is supposed to be bigger, more modern and more comfortable to cater to the growing number of people who go there for prayers especially on Friday. On my way back, I stopped for a few minutes at the site of the old mosque to take a few pictures of the area. Everything was totally quiet and there was nobody around. I closed my eyes for a while and in my head, I could almost hear the splashing of water and shrieks of joy coming from the river...