The Gaze Turned Inward

9 Ramadhan 1434

It's an odd thing but in this, as every, fasting month the first few days, the initial third, have been characterised by a distinct sense of turning inward. We really haven't been out much, for example. And we've broken the fast, so far, with just the two of us, alone as it were. What will happen is that the month will turn steadily more public, there'll be a sense of growing outward. I know this because it's always this way.

And that's odd because Ramadhan is not fixed to one time of year in the calendar that tells us this is 2013. It moves through the year, backwards as it were. The shifting backwards means you are guaranteed each year to be fasting at a time that's quite different in terms of routines of work, or the society around you. Yet the fast strangely repeats itself, with its own distinct rhythms of introversion and extraversion.

Looking inwards is always a bit worrying, of course. But one thing has changed. What used to be distressing is now essentially comical.