Mahesh Bhatt's article about Ramzan, Ramadan

Collective force By MAHESH BHATT

Note: I don’t have the source for this article, but written exceptionally well. Mr. Mahesh Bhatt is a renowned film maker from the Bollywood film industry, he had made some super hit movies. Wiki, “Mahesh Bhatt (born on 20 September 1948), is a prominent Indian film director, producer and screenwriter. Bhatt's early directional career consisted of acclaimed films, such as Arth, Saaransh, Janam, Naam,Sadak and Zakhm.

Mahesh Bhatt was born to Nanabhai Bhatt, a Hindu Brahmin and Shirin Mohammed Ali, a Muslim on 20 September 1948.^[1] Nanabhai Bhatt was a film director and producer of Hindi and Gujarati films. Mahesh Bhatt was raised by his mother alone as his parents were not married and his father also had another family. He has five siblings, four sisters and one brother Mukesh Bhatt, who is a film producer.

Collective Force.

Here is the article:

The Famous Film maker and Human Rights activist MAHESH BHATT
observes daily fast (roza) during Ramdan ? Why?

On the 14th day of Ramdan, as I drove back home to break my daily fast (Roza), a deep on my cell phone alerted me to an incoming message. This is what the message said: Hello, Mr. Bhatt, I understand through your utterances and writings that you are not a religious man and you do not believe in the efficacy of prayer. But I have now learned that you maintain Roza in the month of Ramdan. Your actions, Mr. Bhatt, bewilder the Hindus and shock the Muslims as well. May I ask why you keep Roza?

This question from a stranger made me smile but since the query was an innocent one I instinctively punched in my response, which was, Islam is a part of my heritage. I was born to a Brahmin Hindu father and a Shia Dawoodi Bohra Muslim mother.

When I was a child my mother would ensure that I fasted for at least one day in the month of Ramadan. I remember her telling me that during the month of Ramadan the Muslims say that the gates of heaven are open. This is the month when Muhammad received his first revelation. After my mother died six years ago I realized that the only way to keep her alive within me was to fast for every single day in the month of Ramadan.?

That evening when the distant Azaan was heard and the clock announced that the day's fast had come to an end, my parched body welcomed the first sip of water that I had taken in 14 hours like a desert  would welcome rain. As I bit into an overripe date I discovered that at this particular moment I was a part of this collective release which bound me together with millions of people in my country and all over the world with such unnatural force that I experienced a sense of exhilaration like I had never experienced before. And it was then that for the first time I realized what the spirit of Ramadan is really all about. When so many people together wholeheartedly share a common purpose, they are united in a way that one has to experience to truly comprehend. And the exhilaration comes from the fact that it's not about the individual alone but about all of us, together, doing something so completely. And it is perhaps this feeling of brotherhood that makes fasting in Ramadan such a unique and joyous experience.

(Mike’s Note - Two years ago, I wrote that in on any given Iftaar, i.e, breaking of fast at sunset,  at least 5 Billion dates (fruit) will be consumed, and for thirty days, 150 Billion dates - that is a lot of consumption of dates. You can also find some interesting stats. This is a conservative figure, as many a places dates are not available)

In this buy, consume and junk age where one's consciousness is being bombarded by all kinds of pleasure peddlers who market their mouth watering food and drink on the hour by the hour, it is such a relief to shut the door to them and their wares and protect your body from an over dose of pleasure. In the month of Ramadan one takes  a break from the hedonistic way of life. One gets off the treadmill of constant pleasure seeking and lives a life of austerity and simplicity. This rejuvenates the physical organism and fills one with unusual vigour. As days turn into weeks you being to realize that the human organism spends too much energy in trying to process excess food intake. The maxim that man is killed by too much food begins to make sense.

In the first few days of Ramadan, when the pangs of hunger gnaw at your insides leaving you to constantly stare at the clock, you suddenly feel as if there is an invisible umbilical cord connecting you to the sea of otherwise faceless people all over the world that often go for days without a square meal. Your apathy and indifference slowly begin to fade away and your heart begins to wake up to the all-pervasive suffering of your fellow human beings

Another thing that makes this Ramadan even more special for me is that my 13 year old daughter Alia has for some strange and unknown reason spontaneously decided to fast along with me. Like you fast for your mother, I fast for you, she said simply after I asked her what prompted this unexpected decision. No wonder a wise man once said, "What you teach you children, you also teach your grand-children." I wonder whether years ago while my mother was shaking me awake in the hush of the morning light and whispering, "Beta, time for Sehori", she knew she was also awakening her future grand-children. Isn't this at the end of it all what culture is all about?