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So Today I Threw Away the Channa (Beans)

Today is the second day of Ramadan, a time for atonement, reflection, and a healthy dosage of 16-hour hunger pangs. Ramadan is a lot like Christmas, except the gifts are from God. The lightness of being, the clarity of thought, the cleansing of the palette and the physical and emotional systems. The body and soul fasts. The body abstains from food and drink; the soul fasts from evils of the heart. The spirit is renewed because there is greater meaning than sitting in front of a computer taking CAT exams. There is more to life than the self. There is more to a house than cleaning rituals. There is more to life than this daily existence.

The first few days of fasting, or abstaining from food and drink, during the summer is particularly difficult. In my daze, I actually threw out my family's iftaar, thinking somehow that the beans my mother cooked were meant to go in the garbage. To my dismay, they were freshly prepared for our evening meal, and I had, in some stupor, thrown the food away. I learned from this experience that I should not be so quick to throw food away.

I am happy that I had an opportunity to write today. I feel the writing is the best part of my day. I am thinking about graduate schools that will not afford me the opportunity to write.

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