Supplies

5 Ramadhan 1435

18.48

There was some talk of water rationing in Selangor just before we left KL around about this time last week. Our water supply was distinctly reduced on the Thursday with the taps downstairs not providing their usual flow. Our neighbour, Susan, told us she spent Thursday evening panicking, filling up buckets and other receptacles, thinking the taps might well be dry by the weekend. Since we were on our way by Friday we didn't panic, but we would have undoubtedly done so had we been staying around. As it was the taps were okay by Friday so I suppose the authorities decided the rationing wasn't yet necessary. It rained heavily on Thursday night, but I'm not sure this alone would have had any particular impact on the situation.

It was only in Melaka that it occurred to me that fasting was going to be extremely difficult for Muslims in KL if the water supply were to be cut back. And this led to the thought that we are in circumstances that significantly ease the whole experience of the fast. There are no shortages of anything we need, when we need it. In fact, the fast makes you intensely aware of the plenty that surrounds us and comes so readily, perhaps too easily, to hand - and mouth.

Without a basic sense of gratitude for what we're freely given I don't see how we can keep anything in reasonable proportion. And I know I'll be extremely grateful when I drink that glass of water and cup of tea waiting for me on the table in about half-an-hour.

21.10

I'm about to eat today's main course, a spaghetti dish cunningly put together by the Missus - having earlier broken the fast with water, teh tarik, dates, goreng pisang and mango. Not bad, eh? It occurs to me that although there is a strand in Islam of a distinctly ascetic nature, a kind of contemptus mundi, as in all faiths, Ramadhan is not intended primarily as an ascetic experience. Rather it is in many ways a celebration of the goods of this world, but one that puts those goods in sane proportion. Trust me, there is simply nothing more wonderful than a glass of water. Except, perhaps, a glass of water with ice.