2022
I started fasting even before roza was farz (compulsory) for me. As a kid, when I wanted to fast, my mother would tell us, it’s okay for kids like you to keep 3 fasting a month- the very first one, the one on the lailatul qadr and the last one. But I wouldn’t listen. I always found it very fascinating when I saw how drastically the routine life changed for the better during Ramadan. The excitement would start when we eagerly looked forward to the good news of sighting of the new moon of Ramadan. It was so uncertain! Nobody could tell in advance if it was going to be the beginning of Ramadan the next day or not, until we saw the crescent in the sky.
The sehri, the meal that we had right before the dawn, to start our fasting, used to be very brief and light, yet yummy. The only torture that we, as kids, felt was to wake up so early morning to eat and pray. But I feared, if I make it a fuss, mom wouldn’t allow me to fast, so I would wake up sometimes even before she was up and would wake her up for sehri.
The following day would be very exciting. We would do play less, pray more and recite from the Quran. At the middle of the day, I would feel terribly hungry, the thirst would sometimes make my tongue twisted and my lips would get dry. But yet, I pretended I was just fine, as any of the adults of the house. I needed to be the one to score top in terms of the number of fasting among all my friends in school.
And finally, when my most favorite time of the day arrived, we would all sit at the table, with all homemade food and glasses full of chilled water and sherbet and dates, and would wait for the azaan from the mosque. Finally we would break our fast. And the instant reward that we got for fasting was, mom would always cook something special especially for us, because we fasted. What lovely days we had back then!
Just read a funny, yet very true statement about Bangalis’ eating style the other day. As Bengalis, we are exemplary food lovers that no one can beat. Our days start and end with eating. We love to eat. Amra pani khai (we EAT water), amra batash khai (we EAT air), amra cigarette khai (we EAT cigarette), amra daowat khai (we EAT invitation), amra habudubu khai (we EAT helplessness in water). And we don’t just stop there. Amra manusher matha khai (we EAT people’s head, meaning we make people go crazy), amra bhoy khai (we EAT fear), amra polti khai (we EAT sides, meaning we change sides), amra mar khai (we EAT beating)…..and the list goes on. So you see, despite all these eating habits, it’s not an easy job to not EAT for an entire day. Yet, we do it for the whole month. Religiously.
Jokes apart, roza or fasting is a religious practice that every Muslim (or at least most of them) follows. You are not allowed to eat or drink (or even smoke) from dawn to dusk. You are advised to be nice with everybody, speak softly, not to tell lies, not to cheat with others, donate more, and share with others during this month- so that you can get purified to be a better person for the rest of the year. It was not too long ago (I think in 2016) when a Japanese scientist, Yoshinori Ohsumi, won the Noble prize for his research on fasting that he nicely named as Autophagy. Autophagy means consumption of the body’s own tissue as a metabolic process occurring in starvation and certain diseases. You will find a lot of articles and videos in internet about Autophagy. Wikipedia has also described it nicely in here. In short, what the Muslims have started to follow thousands years back is now proven to be beneficial for us.
Well, I have not started this post to talk about religion. I just wanted to wish you all a Happy Ramadan! I know I am late, but I just didn't want to be the one not to spread the good news of sharing. Let us all spread out the generosity of Ramadan by sharing whatever we have, with the less fortunate ones. Let us be better human. Let us all hope for a beautiful world tomorrow. Autophagy or fasting, let our bodies get free from all the toxins and help us be healthy and shine.
Ramadan Mubarak!
