Ramadan Kareem
My husband’s phone started beeping incessantly late in the evening. We knew finally Ramadan had arrived. I was very excited as this was to be my first Ramadan here in the U.A.E. I don’t know sounds cheesy, but I half expected the moon itself to part the curtain and beam in on me and say, ‘Happy Ramazan! (please note the ‘z’), I wanted the air to be filled with the sweet sound of the muezzin reciting the beautiful Quran, and not to forget smells of food wafting out of kitchens.

Living in an apartment building, there was no moon sighting on a brick layered terrace. Nor standing on my toes, looking up the dust filled horizon, over the rooftops and minarets, to spot a thin nail of a crescent, screaming in delight and dashing endless flights of steps to be the first to greet everyone with ‘Chand Mubarak’.

For our first Sahar, we relied on an alarm clock and ate ‘khubbus’ silently while surfing on the television to find ‘Azan’. Interestingly this Ramadan in Dubai, I sorely missed waking up to muezzins giving sermons, saying ‘Azan’ or even coughing up on the microphones. There was no magical nocturnal commotion, no parathas with golden ghee melting on them, no white haired grandma saying the ‘tasbih’ and dua’s in my ears.

Only walking in some shopping centers did I notice huge placards proclaiming, ‘Ramadan Kareem’. Or that in some sections of Carrefour there were items on sale. It made me smile for a moment when the thought of my tailor sitting on heaps of clothes, suddenly materialized in my mind. Yup, we do Ramadan a bit different in our country.

Ramadan is not just about fasting and praying, its about man's relationship with Allah, and in turn with Allah's men. Its about sharing and giving. I just cannot swallow the idea of eating alone. There has to be noise, and excitement when we eat and also when we are preparing to pray. It is a special, special time.