WELCOMING THE MONTH OF RAMADHAN

Ramadhan is here again. Every time this month arrives, I would always remember my late father and mother. I had started fasting as early as before I started primary school. Back then, fasting was not an easy task. To wake me up early in the morning before dawn for sahur was not an easy thing to do. And to make sure I could stay fasting is another thing. For a small kid, to abstain from eating and drinking must have been no small matter. I can always remember what my father would do to make me stay fasting until the end. After coming back from work, he would bring me to Pantai Lido (Lido Beach) in his car. Pantai Lido was not like what it is today. Back then it was still unpolluted. So we would sit there by the seaside, watching people digging the sand on the beach, finding a kind of sea shell, which were clams I think. They only used spoons or ladles they brought from home to do that. Or we would simply be enjoying the scene of the sea with Singapore Island on its backdrop. When the sky had turned its colour from blue to red, then only we would make our way home, ready to break fast. And most of the time, my determination to stay fasting until the end would be rewarded with ice-creams bought from a Chinese vendor. Oh god, how I miss those moments and how I miss breaking fast with my parents around. Before I left home for boarding school, I had not even once had break fast without my parents. It was like a family matter, it had to be done with everybody present at the dining table. And that would be one of the happiest moments of my life.

The moral of the story: make sure you enjoy the moment with your parents when they are still around.