Shab-e-Barat (and some food)

Well, last night was Shab-e-Barat, a very holy night on the Islamic calendar where devotees pray all night long.  Here’s a lil blurb about it…

           

According to Muslim belief, Shab-e-Barat is the night when God arranges affairs of the next one year. He writes the destinies of all His creations on this night for the coming year by taking into account their past deeds.

The significant distinction of this night, according to Islamic belief, is that it falls on the night of Shaaban 15 in which all births and deaths in universe are written in the ‘Loh-e-Mehfooz’ for the forthcoming year.

According to religious scholars, there are some nights in Islam which are significant, sacred with grandeur and divine majesty and ‘Lailatul Baraat’ is one of them.

Ammu called me at some point yesterday and said that per her family’s traditions (something I know well) halwa and roti should be prepared.  Why?  I have no idea and I don’t ask.  What’s halwa and roti?  Well I’m far too lazy to tell you all the different variations of halwa… www.google.com look it up for yourself; however I can tell you that I had to drag my bootay off the sofa and re-enter my kitchen.  Yes, and I mean re-enter.  As in I was there earlier cooking up a storm and after cleaned up and making it look all shiny and pristine (well actually P did), I stomped back in a few hours later in order to uphold my mother’s wishes, armed with her recipe. 

Anyway, the one I made was sooji ka halwa (there’s another more complicated one that’s made with daal but my mother said it would normally take two days to prepare and honestly ain’t nobody gots time for dat), which is basically semolina, sugar, milk, cinnamon and cardamom.  It’s typically eaten with rice flour roti (bread).  I didn’t have rice flour so I opted for poori, which is made of all-purpose flour and deep fried bread.  

So there I was rolling out the flat round disk pooris to glory, sweating profusely because P hates the smell of cooking on our clothes which means regardless of the weather, windows will be open…and I was recalling the same holy night spent at my parents place, the smell of incense in the air, the sort of hushed reverence for the night.  We ate the delicacies with excitement back then without totally understanding the significance of the night itself, even if we were told what it was all about, because life seemed so very long. 

Now of course, it doesn’t seem so very long, in fact it seems downright short.  Still I was glad that my mother had insisted that I carry on such traditions for one day I hope that I can give to my kids the same memories I write about.  And as P and I were eating I couldn’t help but muse over the coming year, what awaited me, what Allah (swt) shall write for me and what lessons also lurked around the corner for me to learn.  These were thoughts zipping through my mind as I sat there chewing (which btw I can assure you that both the halwa and poori turned out astoundingly edible).  Check it out!  

This is the Halwa



This is the Poori



Through the course of the evening though, I found myself sort of at a bizarre calm place.  Whereas in the past I’ve fretted all night long praying feverishly to God for this, that or the other, last night I came to the understanding that yes, in the past I have prayed,  asked and sometimes begged  but that at the end of the day, what would happen would happen.  Nothing I could do or say would stop that.

Does this mean that I don’t believe Allah is listening?  No, I know somewhere my thoughts are being absorbed, may be put into file or the whole ‘answering’ is taking time.  My faith is in place but I think I’ve managed to become very pragmatic, even to this extent.  I can’t say whether this is a good or bad thing, I’m leaning towards good while others may say that I do sound as if I’m distinctly lacking in faith but I’d say they’re wrong. 

 So okay, bring it on I say.  Let’s see what waits for me.   I’m sure somewhere along the way, you people will be privy to the information. 

I can tell you this much, in 15 days, Muslims around the world will be observing Ramadan.   That’s what’s in my immediate future, 14-15 hour days of fasting without food or water.  I can handle it, never fear, for I have been doing so since the ripe old age of 10 but the lack of coffee…phew.  The first few days of life without morning java are agony.  My colleagues have long since learned not to mess with me during these hours and not expect to see much activity from me either.  And since we’ll be breaking fast close to 9:30pm, I am still trying to figure out how to crawl through the day.  Actually I shouldn’t complain, my cousins presently living in Belgium will be fasting till almost 10:30pm or so.  Heck I have it wayyyyyyyy easier! 

Anyhow, let’s also see how much energy I can drum up in order to write a blog.  I mean creativity must be fed, no?  And if my body is starving (sorta, kinda) then how in the world will my brain function?  You know what this is folks?  A set up.  The perfect excuse as to why I may not be posting all that much on my blog during the upcoming religious season.  You can’t begrudge me if I slack off and oh if I write a lot of entries regarding food, seriously don’t be that surprised.  Most of the time I spend the day (and into the oncoming sundown) daydreaming about delicious edibles that I would like to consume at night.  I’m sure these erotic food ponderings will show itself here. 

Anyhow, let the official countdown begin!