Cushioned by the pillow and mattress, it took a while before the phone’s buzzing woke me up. It had gone silent by the time I reached out for it, and saw through a squinted half open eye that it was one of my cousin brothers who had called. Seeing the time on the phone’s clock,…
If insomnia has to be induced, let it be for this night, and this night alone. Laylatul Qadr could be any of the odd nights in the final third of Ramadan — 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th or 29th. Nobody knows for sure, and nobody probably ever will. After all, even the Prophet (SAW) never said…
After two days of breaking the fast in a ‘non-Iftar-dastarkhwaan’ setup (first day of the shoot, and the Azaan alarm on the phone app went off as I was pressing the camera shutter, while on the second day, I was in the middle of evening hour office traffic searching for an auto to take me…
Last Friday already. Jum’atul Vida. Alvida Juma. The Farewell Friday. I still can’t believe how I missed it. That time when you realize how just those the criticality of those five minutes and of the probability of just one auto rickshaw agreeing to go in the direction of the mosque. Well, this adds another first…
Lightning never strikes the same place twice, but what about Irony? I wonder if there is a term for Irony striking the same way twice. It is one thing to abstain from food and drink, to sit inside a coffee shop for a client meeting while the aroma of coffee beans tries to make you…
Ramadan means many things. Ask anyone randomly, and naturally, most responses would have something to do with giving up food and drink during this month. Words like abstinence and self-restraint. Expressions which speak of the act of physical denial. The second tier of responses would take on the form of what would constitute achieving a…
All that talk over the past couple of days about endurance and patience and keeping it all together. Who would’ve known that things would take a turn the way you want them to so soon, even if it is one small turn? Hope might a tricky thing, but that’s not a thought for now. Hope…
“So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?” Thirty one times. The same question. Yesterday’s fumbling about with endurance began to make some sense. Most things in life start making sense after hearing the recitation of this verse. Surah Rahman was recited during Taraweeh last night.
“Farashkhaane se Shabana…Sehrish aapka intezaar kar rahi hain. Baraaye meherbaani unse miliye.” “Sehri? Who is supposed to ‘meet’ Sehri now? Aren’t we here for Iftar?” Mosques, traditionally, have been considered to be centers of congregation for matters of religion. In recent years, there has been some bemoaning over the loss of its status as a…
As is the rule, the weekend came with its Iftar invitation. Maybe it’s just me, but has anyone ever felt a sad twinge at not being able to brag out loud to the Iftar host that “in anticipation of the feast, I didn’t eat anything all day”. Because you know that all that you’ll get…