• Nasra

    ByAK

    “The journey took 7 days and 7 nights. It was ’79, and traveling by sea was the only way to perform Haj. At that time, the trip used to be three months long, unlike the 40 days it takes now. Which is why we reached in the month of Sha’baan, a few days before Ramadan. We…

  • Naba

    ByAK

    “It’s really hot over here. I will keep my first roza on returning home from my nani’s place after summer vacations.”

  • Ammar

    ByAK

    “I started observing fasts this year. It’s my fourth one today.”

  • Ibrahim

    ByAK

    “It’s all Abba’s fault. He says that I am not old enough, and it isn’t Farz on me yet. When I’m 10 years old, I will keep my first roza.”

  • Safina

    ByAK

    “Yesterday was the toughest roza. Felt as if all the preceding rozas had added themselves into a single one. No no, not because of the heat. The domestic help went absent.”

  • Fakhra

    ByAK

    “Ammi called over one of our phuphis. She said, come over, and help me prepare Iftar. Normally, everyone in the mohalla gets invited over to attend Iftar when it is a child’s roza-kushai. But being constantly wound-up was Ammi’s nature — ‘bahut ulajhti theen woh’ — so she couldn’t tolerate too many people around the house for…

  • Shahida

    ByAK

    Ramadan arrived in a few months on reaching there after our marriage. It was the first time that I was on my own, and it used to be lonely during the day. The wind howled all the time, and I cried remembering everybody who was back home at that time and how it might have been there….

  • The “baccha” party

    ByAK

    The “baccha” party. Usually found huddled in corners of the mosque before prayers, as whispers and dull thuds during prayers, and scampering exits after prayers.

  • Reshma

    ByAK

      “I was a lot younger then, maybe around eight years old. In the afternoon, Ammi and Appi asked me to drink water and break my fast. They felt that I was too young to keep a full day’s fast, and said it was okay if I couldn’t complete it. But I didn’t. It wasn’t…

  • First time Nihari

    ByAK

    Off for Taraweeh prayers, while this bowl of Nihari waits for my return. While in Delhi, it’s usual to have it with tandoori roti, it’s the qulcha in these parts. Which interestingly, is nothing like the kulcha that’s had with matar as a quick lunch-snack under a tree’s shade in Delhi. Let’s hope I have…