Ramdan Kareem (Dubai Stories -2)

Ramdan. The holy month of charity and reflection will begin tomorrow. In office (Yeh, office is the only place I socialize with locals), everybody is excited. Today all the local girls ordered their favourite food as they will be fasting from tomorrow. Iftar(The evening meal served to break the fast is called Iftar) deals are bouncing around. The office timings are reduced by 3 hours for Muslims and by 2 hours for non-muslims. Yes! In the month of Ramdan I’ll be home by 4PM. This is one of the reasons I keep waiting for Ramdan every year. As Muslims are fasting during day, we are refrained to have food in office at public places. People are advised to have water and food only in pantry. This is in respect of the people who are fasting.  Also most of the restaurants are closed during the day time. And whichever are opened have to put curtain to cover the food and people eating  food  from the sight of those fasting. The Ramdan guideline are issues by office for both Muslims and non Muslims like how to keep energy up in the office during fasting time. If you are non muslim then you should be considerate your fasting Muslim colleagues. People have got their kitchen cleaned up for the Ramdan preparations. Everyone is very excited tohave delicious Iftar for whole month. Some prisoners are pardoned by UAE government on account of Ramdan. It’s a month of charity. People usually donate to those who are poor and needy , worship and thank Allah for his kindness. Dubai will now transform into night city. Restaurants and shops will be open for longer in the night. The supermarkets and malls are decorated in Ramdan theme. “Ramdan Kareem” is the phrase to wish Muslims happy Ramdan. This is similar to wishing somebody “Mary Christmas” or “Happy Diwali". This is my third Ramdan in Dubai, I love Ramdan for the sense of spirituality and calmness it brings along. The whole environment gets magically peaceful and soothing.  Though I am a non Muslim I can feel that. So its rightly said Almighty is one but in different forms. Wish you all Ramdan Kareem.