Ramadan Prep. (July25)

Preparations for Ramadan are going up early this year. Over six weeks out some of the traders are already setting up in front of the Haig Road Market, and at the end of Geylang materials for the erection of the stalls are awaiting work-crews. The third Ramadan up-coming, spectacular street theatre promised.
         Down in Jogja Lia April surprised in a message the other night telling of fasting already begun… What was this, so premature?
         “Yah coz every month every woman get menstruation, so i cant fasting n must membayar hutang before ramadan.”
         Some vocabulary and phrasing always best left in the original language, the recipient needing to do the work; Google Trans, &etc.
         Pay the debt.
         In advance was the point. Proper religious consciousness. A very careful accounting and preparation. 

Whatever one may think of Islam, the strength and resolve obtained from the practice has been perfectly evident over thirty-five months now among these communities in the Tropics.
         A day or two before the fasting sms Lia sent an uncharacteristic late-night Hallo. An early start at the hotel in Jogja proper usually meant hitting the pillow early. The heat was the problem in this case, with Merapi active the last few days, Lia explained. Lia's kampung sits at the mid-point between the city and the old Blower 20kms. out. There had been nothing in the local media.