Ramadan is… well, nice

There’s this feeling of togetherness that I like about Ramadan. Even if, like me, you don’t join in the fasting, you feel the special atmosphere, especially around the time the fast is broken at sundown. Forget for a moment the grumpiness people display when they are hungry and thirsty, and just look around on the street at sunset. Yesterday I saw a big group of young women on the way to iftar with such big pans of food that they had to carry them together. Tables were put outside restaurants, containers of water put next to them ready for people to quench their thirst. Today I decided to join the public iftar at a terrace in downtown Üsküdar. The streets were so quiet when I walked down, and peeking through thin curtains in room after room I saw families sitting on a carpet having iftar. Downtown was not so quiet, the terraces crowded with people having tea, soup, rice, tea, salad and more tea. The atmosphere was so good really, I couldn’t help thinking: Hey, Ramadan is… well, nice!