October 15, 2006
How accomodating are we?Lately, since the beginning of Ramadan, a lot of discussions have been on about the ban on eating in public during the fasting hours. Though I personally feel its making the whole task of fasting easier, which is what its not supposed to be, I really never had any reservations about it. This being because every year of my life has had a month during which we've had shorter hours of schooling or working, we've carried on our meals the usual way without being bothered - within our homes and also spent late night outings with family either shopping or having a picnic or strolling around the Ramadan fairs, markets etc. Never really had a Ramadan without late nights out with famlily. And ofcourse at the end of it all comes the Eid Holidays. And from the last 3 years (including this one), Eid and Diwali ( the Hindu New Year) have been falling at the same time. Truly festive atmosphere. Everyone is busy shopping, painting, cleaning, redeorating houses, and gobbling lots and lots of delicious varieties of food specialities and sweets.
As for during Ramadan, I’ve never really been stopped or faced offence from Muslim friends fasting, when wanting to grab a bite or talk about food (something that I do a lot) in their presence. Infact, out of courtesy if I decide to change the topic or eat after they’ve left, they encourage me to just go ahead, since their supposed to fast in as normal conditions as possible and not because of some law by the government.
Every country has its own culture, I’m used to this one (being the only one I've been around apart from the one picked up through my family). If I were to go back to
But surprisingly, I came across 2 articles in Gulf News Today which critisize a matter that most expats in UAE complain about. We usually see expats here critisizing how less accomodating the government is of other ethnicities, In the articles below, it isnt the government but certain institutions/organisations:
Teaching Staff Suspended for Wearing Veil.
British Airways worker suspended for wearing cross.
Couldnt find the articles on the Gulf News website.
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