Thursday, September 13, 2007

Holding Fast

1 Ramadhan

The first day of fasting is never easy, which is as it should be. However, I remained mercifully headache-free, which, considering some of the wallopers I've developed in previous years on day one, is a blessing. Come to think of it, I've not really been plagued by such headaches since giving up drinking coffee, an indication of just how addicted to caffeine I used to be. My theory is that the headaches (always on the first day of fasting only) were a manifestation of withdrawal symptoms from the drug.

The tough thing today was those moments when my brain would say, let's go and have a drink of water, a cup of tea, or a quick snack (in celebration for having survived yet another lesson) and my body would respond enthusiastically for a moment or two, before the crushing realisation that such small joys cannot, at present, be the order of the day.

Of course one of the benefits of the fast is to remind you of what genuine joys those moments are and how we need to celebrate the gift of having them in our lives.

Anyway the dates and longans and tea and curry puff with which I broke the fast tasted extraordinarily good and I'm going to eat a bit of porridge soon for the perfect end to the day. For all those fasting out there: selamat puasa!

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