SUNGAI CHOH (18) : Once Upon A Time | Really Challenging

 Competed Against Each Others 

(As Jihadists Who Faught Against Lust)

It was really challenging during the fasting month. Anyway, my friends and I competed against each others. Not to miss even a day, meant “gerot nian” for a small boy. Full fasting was a success Then. By then we would be in the list of honours, as jihadists who faught against lust. However, during the day I had to undergo the challenge of the senses. The mouth, the ears and the eyes had been indoctrinated for fasting. That’s not to see, to hear or to say anything bad. So I had to fight against my thirst and hunger by all means. Yet there was nothing I could do. The first week of fasting month, the days seemed to be moving too slowly. The more I looked at the clock the more I felt time moving backward. Sometimes hunger made me dreaming about food delights.

Just imagine,  how every day we looked at the kitchen as if there was food on the table and as if the appetizing  aroma came from every corner. Especially when looking at Junas’s coffe shop, so tempting. So it was true that fasting was an all-out fight against appetite. It felt like a real challenge to suppress our appetite. That's why breaking the fast was a moment that has long been waiting.  My appetite was suddenly increased significantly as if  I could finish three plates of rice and 5 glasses of syrup. However, how fortunate  the boys of today are. Nowadays our kids have a lot of gameplays from handphones and series of entertainments from TV. Just to distract them from feeling hungry and thirsty. So time passes without them realizing it.

Anyway the scenario turned lively at night, together with the sound of bamboo cannon  from various corners of the village. That night was actually the highlight of the day. Houses were decorated with kerosene  lamps from unused cans milk. Some were quite creative to make bamboo lamps in various forms. Here and there children of my age celebrated the night,  playing car lamps made from bamboo. We enjoyed the night as far as Kampung Ulu. In the meanwhile, the girls played candles to join the celebration. As for the old folks, they usually gathered at Junas's  Coffee Shop after terawih prayer. Chatting over  cups of coffee before listening to Musabaqah Al Quran from the radio.