Twenty rozas over today

In about one and a half hours from now, two-thirds of Ramadan will have got over, barring the shouting. I have, with the blessings of Allah, completed all the twenty fasts (rozas) so far, and plan on doing all. I admit that so far, I have NEVER done all the 30 fasts in any year, so I will definitely congratulate myself if I manage to do all of them.

The rains have almost receded, and with that, the temperatures have begun to rise. The feeling of thirst and hunger are contradictory to each other. During the colder days, hunger pains are more while one does not feel so thirsty; in summer, or when the climate is hot, thirst calls for quick resolution, while hunger takes a back-seat! This divine balancing enables the devout Muslim to complete his fasts without much hassle.

I have found to my pleasant surprise that it is not altogether that difficult to fast if one puts one's mind to it. My daughter fasted with me for the first eighteen days, but from the nineteenth day, I prevailed over her and banned her from fasting as her studies and sleep patterns were getting disturbed. This is not a very Islamic thing to do, but, as a parent, I had to take this difficult decision as she is in her pre-degree (XIIth) year, and the examinations that she will face in February and June will either make her career or break it. Thankfully, she agreed to see my side of the whole thing and has now stopped requesting me to lift the restriction of not fasting. In a matter of just days, she has reverted to her old self and eats very well indeed. I fear she may again put on the pounds that she lost during the first eighteen days.

In contrast, Hannah, the younger one, has so far completed just five rozas; she plans to do the fasts on Saturdays and Sundays only, and that too only if she is free from other tensions and responsibilities.

My wife's paternal aunt and her husband arrived at our house yesterday. Being Punjabis, their lifestyle has zest and enthusiasm that is unparalleled in India. Their first day's stay in our house was full of our hosting their comfort, food, and so on. They are staying here today as well. I shall try and post their photograph soon in this post.

That's all for today.

Ramadan has started

... And so has my fasting. Every year, I turn over the proverbial "new leaf" in Ramadan. All through the year, I am a non-conformist, who, despite abiding belief in Allah and Islam, hardly ever pray the Namaaz or read the Qur'an. Come the holy month of Ramadan, and I get transformed from being an irreligious person into an Allah-fearing, Namaaz-praying, Qur'an reading individual. I fast too. In short, I change into a new person!

So far, there have been six fasts, and I have done them all. I have no doubt that if my resolve does not waver, I should be able to finish all fasts.My elder daughter Inas is also doing all the fasts.

My first income from my net activities

Although I have earned money earlier too because of my net presence, I was pleasantly surprised last week when I received my first ever cheque for contributing an article to http://www.merinews.com.

I joined this interesting site a few months ago on prompting by a person called Shilpadeep on the net. She sent me a link to the site and interested me enough to visit that link and become a "Citizen Journalist" or "CJ". I wrote a string of four articles on the medical "industry". These articles were well received but did not garner the kind of attention that I was looking for. Then, sometime in August, I wrote an article based on my real life encounters with Orkut. This artocle became a rage, so much that I received both fan-mail and hate-mail for it. In the end, the Merinews editorial team elevated it to a "Merinews Pick" and sent me the payment as a recognition-cum-reward for doing what I had already done.

Do visit the site mentioned above, and use the search option to see my articles. Search for "Dr. Taher" without the quote marks and the next box selected to "by Contributor".