The diary game: Ramadan Routine: From Early Morning Sehar to Night Taraweeh
The most rewarding month of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan, is going on, and we are already through more than half of it, now entering its third and last part. Ramadan is always a beloved and dear month for Muslims all around the world, and even thinking about its end feels disheartening and emotional for all of us. It is a month of prayer, charity, care, compassion, and so much more.
I am now quite accustomed to waking up early for the pre-dawn meal, and my eyes open without even setting an alarm at the appropriate time early in the morning. It is mostly because of the habit and also because of the curiosity that always stays at the back of my mind. Out of that curiosity, I again woke up very early in the morning at around 4:30 AM, even after going to bed very late at night. After getting up, I purified myself to be ready for offering the morning prayers in the mosque, and before heading there, I had the pre-dawn meal called Sehar. After finishing my meal, I stayed inside for a while, sitting near the electric heater to warm myself up for some time, and then headed towards the mosque for the morning prayers.
These days the mosques are full of devotees, and that is something that makes people feel happy, contented, and satisfied. After returning from the mosque, I went back to my bed to sleep for some more time. It was around 9 AM when I woke up again, and now it was time to get ready for the office. My office is a little distant from my place, and it takes about an hour to reach there if I go by the longer route. However, I have found an alternate shortcut route that takes only about 20 minutes to reach there. Because of that, I usually feel quite relaxed about commuting between my place and the office, as that shortcut route has added to my convenience and helped me save both time and fuel.
Later in the day, when I returned home, I first helped my mother with some shopping, as we needed to buy groceries and other items from the market. These days preparing meals is quite a task for the women of the household, especially when food has to be prepared before the time of breaking the fast. I also did some gardening work, where I had to spray some nutrients on the apricot trees that have started blooming. This is the time when we need to be very careful about the growth of these crops and stay vigilant about protecting them.
In the late afternoon, I headed towards the village where some work assigned to me by my aunt had remained incomplete the previous day, and now it was time to finish it. The unfortunate thing about that area is that there is little or no network at many places, which makes the work quite difficult. Doing KYC verification of the beneficiaries right on the spot becomes very challenging because of the poor network connectivity.
At around 6 PM, I returned home well in time before breaking the fast, although one of the beneficiaries still remained to be verified on the portal. This time, due to some unknown issue, her face did not match with the database, and even after trying several times, all my efforts went in vain.
After reaching home, I made arrangements for breaking the fast by cutting fruits and placing them on the dining table, and I also helped my mother with some kitchen chores. Later, after breaking the fast, I offered the evening prayers and had my dinner before going for Taraweeh prayers. After returning from the Taraweeh prayers, I went to my room and soon went to bed so that I could wake up early again the next morning.
