Hazia’s Reflections

Today is the fourth day of Ramadhan. And today I feel energetic. Let’s not talk about yesterday and the day before. Sunday was a breeze though, maybe because it was the weekend:)

A quick chat with an old friend yesterday brought back the memory of fasting more than 17 years ago. During Ramadhan, like other months, we were guarded by the boarding school’s strict regulations.

To break fast, we were separated into 2 large groups i.e. boys on the right and girls on the left. We were then seated according to homerooms - 2 homerooms per table, say around 8 boys or 8 girls per table. Everyday 2 persons from each table were appointed waiters/waiteresses.

They had go down to the Dataran Selera (dining hall) much earlier to serve food for their group. If they were only a little bit late, there may not be food for everyone. One or two kuih or a dish may be missing. And the other members were not going to be happy with the slacking. One wonders how that happened as the cook was supposed to prepare enough for everybody.

I remember not enjoying it at all. There was too much fuss, too stressful, a lot of work. Also, I didn’t get to sit with my my closest friends like I normally did. After that, we had to rush back to our dormitories for Maghrib prayers and then to the surau for Isyaa and Terawih prayers. Having completed all these, we then adjourned for evening preps.

Obviously, that wasn’t my favourite boarding school memory. Actually that was the only one that I didn’t recall fondly, heheh:)