Saturday 22 August 2009

Welcome Ramadhan Kareem.

Today is the first day of the holy month Ramadhan here.
And this would be another month granted by God to me and am thanking Him for enabling yours truly to perform the third out of five Rukun Islam (Islamic Pillar/ maxims)required upon all of us Muslim.

The Holy month of Ramadhan here will be celebrated as usual -- with happiness and welcome of the month through advertisements on tv and roadside billboards, and the liveliness in the night because the mass majority will only be out after the iftar; to conduct what is required upon them religiously, or simply getting together for coffee later on and thus normally will be awake till the call of dawn. Daytime will be quieter as people will be at home and most shops will not be open till 5pm.

Personally, when it come to Ramadhan I will always look forward to one of the 'rituals' of the locals back in my home country -- the 'feasting of eyes' as i call it. Walk at any stipulated area for the 'Ramadhan Bazaar' and one will be feasted with abundance of sweet savouries and all types of dishes, and drinks and whatnots besides having to squeezed through throngs of people of all races buying all sort of food; be it for simply 'being gratified' by the looks or perhaps just another one of those who succumbed to the 'lust' of buying compulsively due to the whole day of not eating and drinking....hahahaha.....

Nevertheless, after being here and not having all these bazaar; I'm learning to adjust to not having this particular sort of excitement and watching people hoarding to food bazaar. I also learnt that its much easier to eat out at the hotels and restaurants here as it just run like ordinary days because people here prefer to have their iftar at home or at their relatives and friend's instead of eat out places;- which in my opinion is the best way of breaking the fast.

The one of the thing that i thank God so much during this month now was the fact that i don't have to pull myself to 'entertain' some people and business contacts because in the business world in Malaysia there is an unwritten business acumen and it is 'a must' for business people to seize this time of the year to locate and build up rapport with whomever -- and 90% of the invite will surely have a 'Yes' answer to it!
I who personally enjoyed it initially, came to feeling rather 'stale' about the whole agenda later, years after years. The most dreadful time was when some who doesn't know how to go home early after having completing the iftar and kept on going back and fro to the scrumptious buffet spread.
I dread those time but on the other hand had to do it because of the forever longing of worldly needs and wants.

The only thing that i found missing was the feeling of the coming of the Holy month itself. It has always been with me, as far as i can remember since I'm in my 20s. The feeling was like an aura or vibes of it coming a month earlier or so.
I realised i had been missing that feeling for the past years since i am here. I am trying to rectify this sentiment though.
I am trying to locate whether it was due to being not at the usual environment celebrating the coming of it (which i doubt, as here, the coming of it is celebrated well unlike Msia) or perhaps, as other commitments in life getting greater, I am becoming less contemplative about certain things in life.

I do not know but will surely found the answers soon enough.

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