Beginning

1 Ramadhan 1437

18.45

Will be breaking the fast soon. Now entertaining a mild headache, a useful reminder that this isn't meant to be easy.

20.40

Rice porridge, our traditional first day of fasting dish of the evening, still to come. Over the years we've developed the practice of breaking the fast with something light before thinking about something heavier. The result is that when you move on to the weightier stuff you feel full already so there's no temptation at all to overload.

It's wise to keep the celebratory aspect of breaking the fast in check. Not that there's anything wrong in enjoying being liberated to eat and drink as and when you care to. But fundamentally the month is concerned with building a discipline for the self, and cultivating an understanding of those who lack the circumstances that enable celebration. I remember when I first began to observe the fast the strength of the realisation that was granted me as to how utterly weary and empty the poor must feel all the time. I've never been able to shake off that realisation, I'm pleased to say. I just hope I'm a better person as a result of it.

21.45

Completely forgot in my woeful self-consumption to wish all brothers and sisters observing the fast: Selamat Berpuasa! Recognising one's status as a drop in the ocean is in itself a kind of liberation.