Tenacious

I could see the growing patch on the wall near the ceiling of my bedroom in Peshawar. It looked unsightly, and rather ugly. It also meant that the occasional rain water was making its’ way in, and marring my wall.

I climbed to the roof to determine from where the rain water was sneaking its way inside. That’s when I saw a small plant flourishing on the roof top. It wasn’t exactly on my side of the house, but was on my tenent’s side of the house next door.

I walked over to it, and tried to pull it with my bare hands, but it wouldn’t budge. It’s roots clung tenaciously to the cement in the roof. Peshawar is a city where rainfall occurs in certain months like January, or July and rest of the year the weather is dry, and dusty. It hardly rains. 

I recognized the plant. It was a small peepal tree in the making. The small branches with large green leaves waved gaily in the wind in the early morning. It seemed to be smirking, telling me you can’t take me out. 

I called a mason to discover the leak in the roof on my side of the house. He pulled out the plant easily enough for me, but hasn’t been successful in finding out the leak, and cause of the growing patch on the wall.

…

DAILY PROMPT

Tenacious

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/tenacious/

Fasting

We started our fasting yesterday that’s July 10th, the first day of Ramadan. I am prone to kidney infections. To keep my kidneys giving up on me I need to drink a lot of water. Our fast begins after the morning Azan, the call to prayer. Yesterday it was 5.15 am. We get up a little earlier. Have our breakfast plus a lot of water. That’s me, of course filling my stomach with water. (As if I can retain all that water rest of the day)

We break our fast in the evening with the Azan for the evening prayers. Eating dates and something from the Iftari spread which consists of Pakoras, Chana Chat, Samosas, Fruit Chat and Dahi Balay. This varies from day to day. Two things are always there plus lots of Shorbet and me needing my water. We say our evening prayers and then return for dinner. At that moment you don’t feel like eating anything because you are all ready stuffed to the brim with what you ate earlier. The boys and my son depart for their Taraweeh. Taraweeh are special prayers added to the Isha (night prayers) prayers in the month of Ramadan.

For those who don’t know, we have five prayers daily. Morning prayer called Fajr prayer, before the sun rises is the first one. The second prayer is called Zuhr. It’s about 1.30 pm at noon. The third prayer is Asar which is about 5.00 pm. The fourth prayer is the evening prayer called Maghreb and it is after sun down at about say 8.30 pm. The last prayer is the Isha. You can call it the night prayer.

My son after returning from office, the first thing he did was to check up on me, to see how I was faring in my fasting. I assured him that I was feeling as right as rain. Masha Allah. (Thanks to God) So he went off to get his much needed rest. Lately he hasn’t been okay and I am worried about his health.

Last year I didn’t fast because of my operation. In lieu of that I gave money to the poor. If my kidneys started paining I will have to stop fasting. I am hoping it won’t happen. Wish me luck.😐

In the mosques free food is available. So here is a cartoon based on that.

Cartoon courtesy of Web.