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Puasa Blues: It’s the Fasting Month Again

October 3, 2005

It’s going to the fasting month again, in a day or two. First off, I’m not fasting, but I just completed (about) 40 days of partial fast leading up to the National Day in July-August as part of the nationwide campaign by NECF. Heheh, I didn’t complete the 40 days, neither was a total fast, so it can’t compare to Ramadan…

Back when I was a kid, the first day of fasting was always a big thing. We would wait patiently after the 8pm news for the announcement by this old man named Zainal (he wore the standard black and white government name-tag) who was the Penyimpan Mohor Besar Raja-raja (Keeper of the Ruler’s Seal) or something like that.

He would be dressed in spiffy baju Melayu and speak s-l-o-w-l-y announcing when the first day of fasting would be. Why would a 100% Chinese non-muslim family be so intrigued by the Ramadan? Because it’s PUBLIC HOLIDAY, that’s why. Yep, Awal Ramadan was a non-working non-schooling day, woo-hoo! (It’s a trade-off, we didn’t get Nuzul Quran or New Year’s Day).

When my Malay friends in school asked me, “Engko posa ke?” (“Are you fasting?”)
I would answer either, “Tak cukup umur” (under-age) or “Puasa malam” (night fasting).

These days fasting month means heavy traffic after work and my favourite nasi lemak and kuih stalls would be closed in the morning and lunch. Bleh. But there won’t be the normal crowd at the banana leaf rice shop, either.

Anyways, to all my Muslim pals and colleagues, Selamat Berpuasa, Happy Fasting! And a special shout out to my fellow bloggers Mack, Aizuddin, Din, Silencers and Zyrin (hope I didn’t miss out anyone...)

18 Comments

  • simon

    October 4, 2005 at 7:53 am Reply

    coppersnare – but fasting hours in canada would be much shorter, right? like 4-5 hours of daylight?

    yvy – me too. but got to control diet, la. not too much oily food…

  • simon

    October 4, 2005 at 10:24 am Reply

    what time does the thanksgiving dinner start? should be after nightfall kan? turkey… mint sauce… blueberry sauce… hmmm….

  • coppersnare

    October 4, 2005 at 10:46 am Reply

    Uh, oddly the whole ceremony starts at 12 and ends at 530PM. Rather early dinner eh? I’d look around for other free dinners, hehe.

    Man, I’m gonna miss that buka puasa bazaar in Kelana Jaya. Breaking fast without ice cold air bandung just doesn’t feel the same.

  • lilian

    October 4, 2005 at 3:28 pm Reply

    Yay, my atm is on holiday (Kedah) and my kid got no PMR tomorrow. So, we can hit the pasar ramadhan early, for photo opportunity. That’s all I think off, photos to blog.

  • simon

    October 5, 2005 at 6:08 am Reply

    coppersnare – long ago i used to walk there to eat the fried stuff in KJ, it as fantastic! Nowadays the stalls are just normal only la.

    inevitable – no such for our office 🙁

    shan – looking forward to some excellent roti jala…

    lilian – and dun forget the FOOD!!!

    s-kay – eh, belum try belum tahu… maybe you might end up fasting more than 2 days…

  • zyrin

    October 5, 2005 at 8:31 am Reply

    thanks simon!! altho, there’s 85% chance that I’ll be buka puasa in a bus on my way home. ah, well… at least I know that there’ll be sirap bandung when I get home… ahhh…. bliss…

  • Yvy

    October 5, 2005 at 12:36 pm Reply

    me oso. my cafe at the office oso is closed. means that i cant really get my daily cuppa of teh tarik. VERY sad but have to ‘puasa’ until i go home n make me a cup. heh. 😛

    it’s not easy living up to the OFFICIAL (dub by desiderata) teh tarik girl title, ok? 🙂 not only that, i’m a nasi lemak addict too…aiyyooo!!

    the word diet doesnt exist in MY vocab. =P

    s-kay : goood luck with the puasa try-out. 😀

  • S-Kay

    October 5, 2005 at 2:46 pm Reply

    Guess what? I thought I can puasa today..damn bangga sial…almost 3pm after class already that time..then I was like “Fuh, canlah dei…buka puasa with BF later”. On the way back home, I saw RM4 at the coin compartment and decided to go grab a hotdog at the nearby petrol kiosk. So much for my try out! Tmr I will try again. LOL

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