Ramzan[ or Ramadan]- The Holy Month

Muslim fraternity all over the world are going through the holy month of Ramzan . They fast for the full day, infact almost 14 hours, during which they don’t swallow anything. I have seen people who used to spit all the time and said they were avoiding swallowing the salive. I don’t know if that is an exteme step, but I have personally seen how keen they are to maintain their fast and follow the rituals. I owe Hussain a lot for many things, and this is info one of them. He is a true muslim, from my point of view.

It was during the Ramzan month of 2003, that I joined him for fasting. We were staying in MES hostel near our college, and there were many guys there, who were on fast. They used go out to have food in a nearby shop which we used to call “Pootty Chettan’s Kada”. [ ‘oo’ as in door or floor, Potty is a non veg dish]. I started accompanying them daily, and then I got the idea of taking fast for a day, just to feel how it is. And then that became a habit. And I started going with them for the morning ‘athaazham’ too.

In the next two years, we were in college hostel, and we had a separate Ramzan Mess in hostel. And I too was a member of that. I too became a part of my muslim brothers and I really enjoyed those days. We used to have Rice and Fish in the morning. And we got Lime juice, Fruits, Chapathi /Porotta /Appam /Puttu with a non veg curry in the evening.Me too tried to getup who ever was fast asleep at 4 am to have the athaazham, and on the common Ifthar Party that we arrange for the whole inmates of hostel, I too participated as part of the organizing committee!

This year, as I am on a late night shift, I am having a routine similar to my Ramzan days of my college. I take breakfast at around 3.30 AM and dinner around 9.30 and mostly don’t eat much in between. Maybe a tea or two.

But then, me too will be waiting for the Lailatul-Qadr and the Shawwal , just like I did a few years back!