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Taste of maiden ‘fast’
Maleeha Rajon recollects memories of her first ‘fast’ as a seven-year-old
The month of Ramazan - 1951. Sarwath - bottles of sherbet stand in a row on the kitchen racks. My grandmother likes badam sarwath. Milk is boiled and almonds ground in the kitchen stone stirred into it, sugar is added before straining and bottling the sarwath. I see Arifa cleaning mounds of special rice which comes all the way from Batticaloa. Nothing escapes my grandmother's eyes. She is seated on a low chair giving orders.

Wait a minute, Sithyma has arrived with Safa and Marwa - the twins. They are older than me. How we kids love Sithyma! Not a minute will we be bored. She will tell us stories. If the moon can be seen tonight we will fast tomorrow and for me Dua, this will be my first fast. I have just turned seven. Oh, yes! Last year I fasted just half days. That was my grandmother's style of training me for this Ramazan. The twins have been invited to be with me on my first fast - a full day.

Come let's see what my favourite aunt has in her big cloth bag. Out comes sawwarisi dodol - a sago sweet in a big aluminium bowl tied up in a piece of white cloth. That's when we break fast, she says. Sithyma gives my mother a brown paper bag saying dhaatha, (elder sister) this is Dua's dress." Safa and Marwa are pulling me from behind. They want to run outside. There is a large garden and lots of squirrels running up and down the mango tree.

It is evening and my father says that there is talk in the bazaar that tonight will be the fast. "The sky is clear and the moon may be seen with the naked eye," he adds. The news that I was going to observe the fast this time has reached my aunts and uncles. Everyone seems to be talking about me and my first fast. My friend next door has joined us for all are anxiously awaiting news from the Grand Mosque.

My grandmother hugs me saying, "Dua, bring Safa and Marwa and sit on this mat like good children without making much noise. We may be able to hear the gundu ( cannon shot ) from the Grand Mosque any time tonight." That will be the signal for us to begin the fast tomorrow." So we sit on the mat and Sithyma sees us all so quiet and she joins us too. And then the gundu is heard!

I cannot sleep for some time. Sithyma reminds me that that the ‘fakir bawa’ would come knocking at our door. I wait for the knock but I am fast asleep when she puts me up. I hear the fakir singing baith - which are beautiful religious songs. He was knocking on our window saying, Umma rendu mani (Mother, it is two o'clock"). I would have loved to go out and see him.

He usually wears a long green waistcoat over his white clothes and a green turban. He has large beads round his neck and he carries a lantern and swings a stick to frighten dogs on the road. He also has a tambourine which he shakes, keeping time with his songs.

We are ready for sahar- A gathering of the family partaking the early dawn meal. My mother is heating the food over an open fireplace. Food is served onto the sawans-large circular plates where five or six of us will sit and eat. They tease me - "Dua eat as much as you can, tomorrow only at maghrib- (evening prayers) - you can eat again." My grandmother is not too happy to hear this talk so she says - she will wait like us this time. Won't you makalay? - (daughter) I nod. Then my aunt helps us to keep the niyyath- a special prayer of our intention to fast. We children go back to bed but the others sit on the mat and start reading the Qur'an.

When I get up the next morning Safa and Marwa are at prayer. My mother takes me to the tap outside and shows me how to take ablutions. She makes me sit behind her and follow her in prayer. My musalla (prayer carpet ) is a yellow one. It's new and soft. When my forehead touches the ground I feel its softness. I did everything she did.

Then we read some story books and Sithyma says we should read about Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). We ask her for stories about the Prophet (PBUH). And she tells us one of those beautiful stories. " The Prophet (PBUH) was very fond of animals - especially cats. His favourite cat went with him wherever he went and he took great pains to see that it was made comfortable. He was so attached to it and it usually slept in the sleeve of his garment. The Prophet (PBUH)did not want to disturb his little friend's sleep so he is said to have cut off the sleeve of his garment to let the cat sleep in peace! Doesn't this tell us that he had a soft spot in his heart for animals?" she asks. The three of us agree on this point and I run to my grandmother to ask her if we could have a pet cat.

We play all sorts of games the whole morning. At noon I feel a little tired. It's a very hot month so my grandmother gathers us children in her large bed. She relates how difficult life was when she was a small girl. They had no tap water and no electricity. They kept their heads covered with shawls.

They rarely came out to the front portion of their house. We are lucky girls she says to be running around the whole day. Then she remembers that she had bought shawls for us. So she takes them from her almirah and gives one to each of us.

"You can wear it to the mosque tonight for special tharaweeh prayers”, she says. These prayers are a special feature of Ramazan. In the evening we sit with our lebbema (religion teacher). I take my Tha'leemul Qur'an. It is like the Primer -the first book we learn. We do some reading and write the alphabet and our names in Arabic.

It's six in the evening and I think time goes very slowly after that! I am not very hungry. I can wait a little longer without water too. My friend next door is invited to break fast with me. The dates, rice and glasses of water are ready. In a few minutes we will hear the call for maghrib prayers. That is when we will thank God and break fast.

I feel like a grown-up - for tonight I will join the others at tharaweeh prayers. I have observed my first fast and will do so every year, says my grandmother hugging me.

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