Breakfast Chats: Iftaris, Fitness & Eid Plans
A busy but rewarding month
“Breakfast Chats” is a lighter series, where I share short musings and conversational tidbits about life things. It’s a regular, monthly feature that I’ve made open for access, through the year of 2024, to all subscribers, both free and paid.
Today, I’m sending out Breakfast Chats instead of the monthly essay, because Eid (the festival after the month of Ramzan) is next week and I feel like I want to do something around that? Honestly, depends on how Eid goes, we’ll see :) But for now, I’m swapping the two and sending Breakfast Chats earlier this month.
Let’s get started?
1. Simple Iftars. I have some friends coming over today for an iftar at my place (iftar is the evening meal during Ramzan with which you break your fast) and so since this morning, it’s been a mix of prepping a couple of things in the kitchen, tidying up a little around the house. We do very simple iftaris usually, and so we’ve just put together some fruit chaat, chana chaat and pakoras. And because we’re very comfortable and open with our friends, as one should be, we all decided that we don’t want too much and will just order some pizza or biryani later if anyone wants more, so things have been quite relaxed.
What they don’t know though is that we have a tiny birthday surprise planned for them afterwards – just a simple cake cutting with chai, no frills. It’s been a dark time with how things are in the world and while I’ve tried to not share celebratory moments too openly on insta, I’ve also tried to keep our personal celebrations intimate and modest. I think it’s so important to value the joy you’ve been given in your life, but I feel we have to take it a step further and also respect our connect to the rest the world. What I’m saying is not a perfect thought, it’s still couched in so many privileges, but it gives me some ease. Anyway, we’re pretty much set for this evening, I’ll just go get changed after sending this out to you guys, and am just hoping that they love their mini surprise.
2. Fitness in Ramzan. Yesterday was our last training session for Ramzan and I cannot tell you how proud I am of the both of us for showing up even while fasting. We only go twice a week so it’s not that impressive but coming from two people who developed some really unhealthy fitness patterns over the years, doing this for ourselves consistently has felt so rewarding. And something interesting that I didn’t expect, was that even though most days I’d be going in with low energy, I’d come out on the other side feeling absolutely great, despite fasting. It never felt taxing or too hard, just a little thirsty by the end of it, and that’s something I want to remember for next Ramzan as well. Nevertheless, there’s a discipline to routine and a discipline to breaks, so really happy to take this very welcome rest during the Eid holidays.
3. Conversations with Friends. Okay, this might sound a little dark, but a few days ago, I was telling a friend about the time I helped with the funeral ghusl of a family friend (which is the washing up of someone after they’ve passed before taking them for burial). One thing led to another, and we got to talking about how staying in touch with the idea of death was so important. Death, as we all know and say, is the only certainty in life, but it’s also the only reality that is the most distant from our active consciousness and life routines. We put our everything into our present lives, as one should, but we avoid the idea of death because it feels scary and like a very blurry, distant truth, you know?
And as we kept chatting, the both of us came to the same realisation; we want to actively do things that keep us in touch with our mortality. And not in a morbid way that takes all joy out of the experience of life, but to be able to honor it in an even stronger way. To make our moments more wholesome, to add value to those around us, to clean our hearts and tongues, to do more for others. Faith or no faith, whether you believe in something or not, I think it’s just about doing things with our present time, that helps us stay close to our end of time. We decided we’d plan after Ramzan was over, about how we want to do this in a more obvious way, let’s see where we go with this, but I’m so glad we had that conversation because I think it’s going to stay with me.
4. Take A School Tour. And because I’ve been so invested in it this month, I am going to slide it in here as well. Earlier this week, I did a tour on my instastories of a TCF (The Citizens Foundation) school that I visited last year (for underprivileged children in Pakistan). It’s absolutely incredible, the work that they do, and so many people loved it when I put those stories up. I’ve added it to a highlight on my Instagram, I’d love it if you’d take a few minutes to see it, I’m linking it here. And then if you feel like it and are able, I’d be so grateful if you could donate for these kids. Donations can come in worldwide, in multiple currencies, and for reference it’s only USD144 (AUD 225 / GBP 120) to fund the education of one child for a whole month. The link is right here.
5. Travel Plans. Finally, we’re leaving for Adelaide on Sunday for an Eid break with our friends. I wrote about it a little more in detail in last month’s Breakfast Chats issue, if you want to have a read. I’m taking off from work all through next week and really looking forward to a slow, wholesome time with good company. We’ll be spending this weekend packing our bags and sorting out things like sending Eidi (gift money) for our nieces and nephews. I’ll be sharing some snippets from our trip on insta, if you’d like to hang out.
That’s pretty much it for our breakfast chat. I will see you soon.
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Music Credit: The music in my voiceover background is ‘Milky’ by Ninn Tendo.