The diary game: Between Fasting, Work, and a Late Night at the Hospital

It was the 17th day of Ramadan, and I woke up very early in the morning at around 5 AM. I quickly performed ablution and purified myself for the morning prayers. Very little time was left for having the meal called Sehar, which is quite an obligation as far as the Islamic principles regarding fasting are concerned. After quickly finishing my meal, I waited for the prayers and was quick to get to the mosque when it was time to offer the morning prayers.

After spending some time praying in the mosque and making supplications, I headed back to my place and went straight to bed again to get some more rest. Because of waking up early, I was not able to complete my sleep, and it was time to rest again to help myself catch up on some sleep.

At around 9 AM, I woke up again. Before starting my other activities, I first went out to feed my cat, who had already been making sounds at the door, letting me know that she was hungry and needed something to eat. I gave her some biscuits and stayed there with her for some time.

Only after feeding the cat did I leave for my official duty. As usual, I reached there quickly and got straight to my work, continuing until late afternoon. Meanwhile, I also offered my afternoon prayers. In the office premises, a room has been designated for this purpose during this month only, because going to the mosque from there is time-consuming as it is located quite far away. To save time for all the officials, it has been found convenient to convert a room into a prayer area for this month.

Later, while I was on my way back home, my aunt called and asked me to help her with completing some KYC work in the tribal area where she is posted. As the mobile network there is not very good, it becomes quite difficult for her to do it alone, which is why she needed my help. Anyways, it is quite a good and different experience to be among these tribal communities. They have a completely different lifestyle, and one gets to witness something quite unique when it comes to understanding how they live and manage their affairs.

I needed to go to Doba with what was required according to the mobile application that has been designed for the purpose of serving these people. It was very late in the afternoon when I returned home, and it was almost time to break my fast.

My mother had made all the arrangements, and now it was time to serve the food to everyone gathered together in the dining room. As soon as I broke my fast by eating dates and some other food items that are typical to Kashmir, I offered the evening prayer, Maghrib, and then returned home to have an early dinner.

Soon after finishing dinner, my maternal uncle called me seeking advice because my cousin was feeling some heaviness in his chest. My uncle was quite worried and informed me about the situation. As soon as I heard about it, I quickly suggested that he should take him to the hospital. I accompanied him along with my younger brother, and we first went to a nearby hospital, from where we were referred to the main city hospital, SMHS Hospital.

Upon reaching there, the doctors suggested some tests that needed to be done on an emergency basis. Although the doctors reassured us that there was nothing serious to worry about, it still made us quite anxious. Once all the tests were completed and the reports turned out to be satisfactory, we finally felt relieved.

After a complete check-up and the prescription of some medicines by the doctor, we were done and headed back home. It was around 1 AM by the time we were on our way back. We were all feeling extremely sleepy, but we were trying our best to reach home quickly so that we could get some rest, as we needed to wake up early again the next day.