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    Nasra

    “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…

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    Fakhra

    “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…

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    Shahida

    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….

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    Reshma

      “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…