How The Fasting Month Would Affect Me…

First, I’m a Catholic, so now that the Muslims are in the fasting month, so do you think it doesn’t affect someone like me? Ahaa! You’re wrong.

I remember my Muslim friend laughed at me when I told her that I was always so excited whenever the Ramadhan is coming. I told her, “There are lots of foods!!!” Yes, I’m always excited about foods. I just love foods so much! So, let me guess, you must think that the food bazaar is the thing that affects me?

Not anymore, actually.

This year is different. With the flu outbreak, as now become the worsening national pandemic, I become more cautious about being in crowded areas. I become even more concerned about people spitting, sneezing, coughing – eeeuurgghh…I hate it. And then, the exposed foods – dirt from the dust and air, the dirt from the hands that handle them, and containers where they put the foods, Whoaaa…too many concerns – I hope and pray that those foods won’t cause anything bad in the people who eat them. Cleanliness is definitely the major concern. Maybe because of this, I’m not excited about the bazaar anymore. It doesn’t even tempt me to go and mix the crowd. Unlike the years before, I always buy something everyday, although I remember feeling upset with the foods, but still, I just loved the hype the crowds were making, and be part of it. I think, it’s the scenery where a lot of people come together at one place – It really doesn’t hurt to watch it once in a while. The Fasting season is only once a year, right? So, I think even watching the people going around and buy something – and see a lot of foods being sold at the stalls – Well, I think it brings joy to the sellers as well as the buyers too. That sure matters a lot.

Though cleanliness is always the major concern from all the years before, but this year, I’m forced to look at it more seriously. A lot of people have gone because of a flu virus that come late in our country, but then our country just climbs the statistic faster than we could have predicted. This pandemic is NOT a joke, people. So, more or less this has prevented me to do it the same way I did years before. No more food frenzy, ya all.

Still, it affects me in the other ways though. Some of you know that I’m a Malay foods lover. I have to forget about buying my brunch at my favourite Malay restaurants because they will be closed in the morning. So, I don’t actually give myself an option to go to the Chinese restaurants – because I’m just not used to it. So I have to worry about what to cook, what to eat - and buy all the stuff to cook. Then I have to prepare my meal before I go to work, or the best is, eat before I leave the house. Why? Because I can’t just eat like it’s the normal season. I know that I shouldn’t be bothered to that extent but I think it’s improper to just eat in public, and I won’t want to hide like I’m doing something wrong just because I don’t feel comfortable eating heavy dish with the fasting people around. People who are fasting will understand but it’s better still that I don’t have to bother them about the smell of the foods and the act of eating as if I have no respect for them. Erkss… Okay, that sounds like a bit too much right. Hehehehe. What I mean to say is that, I do this because I think that this is the most comfortable way of doing it – that’s being among the people who are fasting. I think that we can’t avoid things like this. It’s like, when you are tuning on the music too loud, and you hear someone is talking on the phone, of course you would tune down the volume a bit. It’s how you adapt yourself to the surrounding to keep the peaceful and friendly atmosphere.

Whatever it is, I’ve been around the fasting people eversince I was in secondary school, so I have learnt how to cope with this. Although I’m a Catholic, I pretty much understand how much this season means to them. So, Have a blessed Ramadhan month to all the Muslims. I hope each of you get the best from the blessings of this season. :)