Sometimes I wish that a part of my life was like the Cinderella story. Like somehow on the Eid night, a fairy godmother appears and dresses me in designer clothes and shoes, and also brings me other branded accessories. The whole idea seems so good.

I would then have the charm of being a girl who stands out from the crowd while dressed in a magical dress and shoes. I would also be the talk of the town while being pursued by the handsome prince holding my branded shoe in his hand. I guess I can’t be blamed in wishing like this because every girl, whether big or small has fantasies. And besides, Cinderella is loved by millions around the world among the many such fairy tales meant for children.

As things are, my all Eid fantasies are inspired by the fairy tales and imaginary figures that I love. Like I wish that there was an equivalent of Santa Claus in our culture for Eid. I mean if the idea of the Tooth Fairy exists in our culture, then why can’t there be a Santa Claus for Eid?

Had it been that way I could have asked him for anything! One more Eid gift, albeit from a Santa, really can’t hurt anyone!

For the Eid day itself, I like to fantasise about roaming around with my brother like Hansel and Gretel. We would find a house made of pastries, chocolates and all the goodies. We would eat the delectable delicacies and enjoy to our fullest. The idea here is to be somehow able to enjoy all the good stuff for free.

“What about the witch that trapped Hansel and Gretel?” might be the question you all are thinking of. Well the answer is: I have read the fairy tale, so I know her real intentions and how to outwit the witch!

For hanging out on Eid, I would visit Wonderland just like Alice. There would not be any traces of a lockdown there for sure! And I would meet all the talking animals and listen to all that they would have to say. I would see with fascination all the amazing things in the wonderland. I would enjoy the tarts while playing croquet with a flamingo. I would do all that till someone wakes me up from my dream just like Alice was woken up from her dream in the story.

Did I mention who would wake me up from the aforementioned dream? Well, since I would be sleeping like Sleeping Beauty (for 100 minutes, no less), I would very much prefer a handsome prince to do that task. On second thought, let us just cancel the idea and bring Snow White into the picture. After all “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” has its own charm.

And while imagining being like Snow White, I would also become someone with “lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, voice as sweet as that of a cuckoo and skin white as snow.”Now, does it not make sense to fantasise about the best you can while you are at it?

My other personality traits would be being sweet, charming, gentle, cheerful, pure, naïve, unprejudiced, kind, trusting and optimistic. After all, I don’t want to be pretty just from the inside, I want to be beautiful inside out!

As you can see, if there is a great thing about fantasy and imagination, it is that, while imagining, you could be anyone or anything you want to be. In reality, I am not as pretty, confident or as rich as I see myself in my dreams. But still when I look at myself in the mirror and my Eid clothes, shoes and accessories, I say to myself, ‘Not bad!’

I have made mistakes though, while being the way I am. Like a year ago, during Ramazan, I made the mistake of pretending to be a kind-hearted princess and gave away my Eid clothes to my maid’s daughter. My mother was livid on finding about it. Naturally, we couldn’t ask the maid to bring the clothes back to me. But luckily for me, magic happened.

Soon afterwards, my father secured a great business deal and with the advance money he received, he made all my fantasies come true. I got to have designer stuff and branded items. I ate all that I wanted to eat on Eid and we went out to many interesting places.

So, in my case, I found out that fantasies do come true if you just believe strongly in them. Most importantly, I learnt that true magic lies in giving and sharing what you love. What you give away does find its way back to you in a better form. This magic is like science.

Whether you believe me or not is your choice. But fantasy and imagination are necessary parts of each girl’s life. They don’t hurt as long as you keep your feet firmly planted on the ground. Either way, Eid joys have their own magic and we all should learn to enjoy them to the fullest.

But this Eid when things are a little different from the usual and we will not be shopping like before due to this lockdown, my imagination is overworking to make the best out of this. I imagine myself as Rapunzel, who is locked away in a tower and can only look out the window. I don’t mind being this way because I know one day I will be let out and life will be beautiful again.

But I am luckier that Rapunzel as she had the sorceress for company, while I have my family and together we have a lot of fun. And on Eid we plan to video call all our family and friends and have a good time together, virtually!

Eid Mubarak everyone! I am off to my dream world! Ciao!

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 23rd, 2020