ram kareem

It's my first ever Ramadan in Egypt. I approached it with excitement, and so far its meted out nicely. The first day started off with a big bang, after an entire day of starvation, my colleague and friend, Tom and I cooked a big South East Asian iftar for like 20 of our friends. I did Tom Yam Squid Noodles and Tom did Peanut sauce chicken with nasi goreng and fried noodles. I scoured 3 separate supermarkets in Zamalek trying to find all my ingredients, and by the end of it all, when everyone had been nicely fed, I just collapsed. Went home, fell asleep early and totally missed sohoor with my friends.

But since then, it's been more low-key. Eating with friends at 6pm everyday is quite nice, leaving work early at 3pm is even nicer. Trying to plan your day around the increased traffic isn't so nice. Before Ramadan, all these horror stories kept circulating about how the grabbings and hassle increases proportionally to the hunger of men in this country. A friend of mine apparently got grabbed more during the holy month than any other time of the year. Clearly, the frenzy must have culminated with the hushed up mass assaults that occurred downtown last year. What is it about Ramadan? Does the hunger make you more desperate? Is it boredom from not being able to fuel up on fuul? I say it's quite disgraceful, but with an air of nonchalance — I've never been physically assaulted (except for that 10 year old running past me and slapping my ass) myself, so maybe its hard to feel the fury until it becomes personal. Or maybe I've just become numb to the cancer that clearly exists in a society which attempts to hide mass sexual assaults on its streets rather than confront the deep-seated problems it needs to deal with. Bah humbug. Not really a topic I wanted to get into in my 'Ramadan post,' but I guess its a given. Note to oneself: Don't go downtown during Ramadan and definitely not on Eid.

Anyway, really, so far, the horrors of Ramadan I was warned about, traffic/molestations haven't really materialized. If you're clever and time yourself right, you dodge the traffic. If you live on Zamalek with all your friends, you walk everywhere. It's been great really. Fanous lanterns everywhere (still dont get their purpose), the mosque next to my house (which btw I only noticed when they started building the tent) started building its Ramadan table tent 2 days before Ramadan and now it serves free food to any passer-by. Even the Marriott sets up tables on its sidewalk! Ramadan here is definitely a different experience. People are so much more conservative here than in Bangladesh, and eating is a serious no-no on the streets during the day, something I haven't really come across (or am i just experiencing amnesia? Nabilah, is Ramadan this intense in Dhaka?)

And best of all, the weather has eased up. There is a chill in the air in the evenings, and even wearing a cardi, I no longer leave puddles behind everywhere I walk.... A little sad to say goodbye to the summer and hopping about on beaches, but its temperate-season-weekend-getaway time! Beach time is over, but it's time to go to the desert, where the night will be not too cold, but the days are not too hot, and the freshwater lakes dont turn your hair into straw! wahey!