PARIS may very well be known as the city of light, but in a typical Ramadan, Jeddah could definitely give Paris a run for its money. The week before the month begins sees a rush of activity; all sorts of buildings sport the beginnings of what looks like a tableau of lights while palm trees are strangled with string upon string of brightly colored lights. From shopping malls to private residences, from street monuments down to humble construction sites, everyone joins in the act. There are lights that blink and others that twinkle while some are content merely to shine a steady beam of light on the cars whizzing by.
Ramadan in this country is certainly a phenomenon for almost no other country in the world witnesses such an complete change in living habits and even temperament. Day turns into night and vice versa — to the total bafflement of first-timers. Barely a soul stirs before noon, which is the ideal time to visit the supermarket. Attempts to do so at any other time of the day will have you doing battle to get through aisles crammed with shoppers and trolleys piled high with so many bags of rice you’d think that China was about to suffer a drought! Routine visits to the doctor are postponed to after midnight where, unbelievably, children accompany their parents for appointments along with the nanny and grandmother.
During Ramadan we turn into a nation of TV addicts — watching as many as seven or eight different mini-series. Nor are we just content to watch but we also feel compelled to trade stories about what happened in today’s episode at the iftar table, leaving some of us sane humans (who have to work during the day and night) at a total loss as to who in the world Haj Mitwali and his family are! Mini-series, candid camera shows and an endless round of inane game shows — doesn’t anyone have a more creative idea for spending the hours between midnight and 5 a.m?
Then after a long hard day of fasting comes iftar — now here is a real spectacle for you; especially if you decide to eat at one of the many hotels and restaurants offering an iftar menu. The banners posted outside each establishment vie with each other for customers — screaming out “Come eat all you can for only SR45, SR50, SR55” or words to that effect. If the food doesn’t tempt you, then how about the chance to win a car, airline tickets or this tacky gold watch? The buffets on offer are a feast for the senses; the smell of greasy fried food alone is enough to open the appetite. But that’s not all; the funniest sight in the world is to see the way that diners pile their food onto the dishes. And if the dishes offered by the restaurant of your choice are too small for your taste and you don’t want to trouble yourself by going for seconds (by which time you may find the platters are all empty anyway) then do what one enterprising diner did. For the salads, find the biggest piece of lettuce and use it as a pseudo plate and for the hot dishes, a few spoonfuls of rice at the bottom of the plate will certainly give you more room to work with. Just make sure it is some sticky type of rice.
But take heart, if you chose to break your fast at home then you will miss out on one of the most enjoyable pastimes during the last 10-15 minutes before iftar. The game consists of using your car like some sort of torpedo to see how many people you can frighten into getting out of your way as you go speeding along, ignoring traffic lights as though they were merely decorative.
Reaching the final week before Eid, most of us have grown sick of the sight of food, can’t stand to watch one more TV show and have barely the energy to even show up at work, let alone get any work done. The country takes a holiday as schools and government offices take a break, lessening somewhat the chaos on the streets in the morning, but making the shopping malls miserable for the rest of us in the evenings.
Year after year, it is always the same. And every year we vow that the next we will try to lead a more normal life. Most such outbursts though go the way of New Year’s resolutions. Yet there is something different about this year. Something that for us is unique to Ramadan and which we looked forward to hearing just before iftar, and that’s the sound of the cannon firing, seconds before the call to prayer. Where has it gone? Just one more thing we have been robbed off this year. What do we miss about this year? The cannon!