7/9/2016
4th of Shawwal 1437.
7/9/2015
This year, the Eid was on July 6/2016 after 29 days of fasting. It was tough fasting in this heat, when any given day the temp. is hovering around 96/97 degrees F. We in the western countries are still better off than our other Muslim Families in Pakistan where load shedding and water scarcity has made life a punishment. And the scariest part of the situation is : there is no hope of any improvement .
7/9/2015
11:40 Morning.
Ramadan, 22/
This is the third year, I am repeating this small segment of my mind. It sometimes scares me how monotonous life sometimes looks but does it feel monotonous too?
Over the period of these three Ramadans, I do not see much difference from one to the other. From moon sighting to first sehri to first breaking of fast is the same all over again, and again. or maybe it’s so for the ‘veterans’ and different for younger ‘crop’ who embrace every new thing with a wide eyed wonder.
So is there any notable change? Well… yes and no. Yes, my son got married. Yes, my lovely granddaughter is not wavering in her resolve to keep fasting the whole month. MashaAllah. Her chacha, at age seven was asked why he is not keeping a roza like other friends his age? That seven year old child startled me with his reply.
” I am going to fast all my life after it is wajib. So why do it now when it is not wajib” True to his words, he has never missed one, after he reached the age when fasting became obligatory to him.
(Previous year)
Its not that I have stopped thinking or my mind is on strike. But during this time of Ramadhan, I am trying to have a peek into my mind to see, and match the previous Ramadhan. Its amusing to note the changes .. hum wohi, tum wohi magar ….,
ثبات ایک تغیر کو ھے زمانے میں
So how is life?
Life says I is fine; thank you.
Month of Ramadhan is almost here. My younger son has already started fasting. He was telling me that during lunch hour he goes to their Conference Room if it is not in use at that time; and his Kindle gives him company. Kindle definitely has integrated in our lives.
I sometimes wonder if we are heading towards eliminating speech and start communicating only via text, and such.
In early sixties when TV came to our house, I was upset because suddenly evening activities were decided around TV viewing. Family get to-gathers were restricted, rerouted or rare. Come evening and the family would sit around the set, watching something or the other. Evening walks became history.
Then came the Internet and the world was not the same anymore. Whatever little semblance of the old world was there – GONE!
No complains. On-line ‘thingy magic’ has many benefits too. When I received my first Kindle, I was a little weary. Letting go of paper books was hard. The smell of a leather-bound book is so exhilarating! I am not joking but having a book in my hands was an ultimate ‘High’. It still is. But I am also used to reading on Kindle now. Right now I have 18 books on it. If I think about the paper books, I also have to think about space. And to say the least, my two four shelf each, big book cases are brimming. There is absolutely no space for even a thin volume. Then there is the question of cost. Its about half the cost of a paper book. Sometimes even less. My Amazon buddy works for me like a network of libraries. I have set-up an account with them. So any book is just a click away. Only regret is, I cannot order Urdu books from them and there are hoards of Urdu books that I would like to read. But getting a book from Pakistan is not easy. Funoon, an Urdu, literary magazine was sent to me from Karachi in the middle of June. We are approaching middle of July and it is still somewhere on its way.
Girls are busy today. They were already on the breakfast table when I went to the kitchen for my cup of tea. empty glasses of chocolate milk pushed aside, heads touching, they were busy on I-Pad. They looked up, gave me a smile, said salaam to me and then – I was dismissed! They went back to what they were reading and enjoying. My lovelies!!
I wish love, compassion, peace and a prosperous future to all the children of the world.
July, 9, 2013
10:56 in the morning.