Look Who's Fasting...

There are over a billion Muslims in the world, and most of them are currently fasting from sunrise to sunset in observance of Ramadan.  Although we live on an island that is close to 90% Hindu, there are still several hundred thousand Muslims on the island as well.  So there are signs of Ramadan all over the place: the Mosques are more crowded than normal, Ramadan gift baskets for sale, some of our favorite restaurants being closed down, and some people just taking it easy during the heat of the day because they're worn out from not being allowed to eat or drink anything.

We really are impressed by the devout construction workers who work all day in the hot sun without a drop of water.  A lot of kids fast as much as possible too.  However, I'm most impressed by the people who work at restaurants and serve food all day long while observing the fast.

One of the more interesting things for us to see is advertising for Ramadan in connection with what we think of as very American things.  Two interesting examples: Ronald McDonald is encouraging people to give their alms during Ramadhan (and to break the fast at Mickey Ds), and the Quaker Oats guy is offering a free bowl so that you can get a good serving of his oatmeal in your system before the fasting begins at sunrise.