Ramadan in Cairo

There are always many nice moments connected with it.

Tonight, en route to my cat visit, I happened to be on the Metro in the closing minutes before Iftar. The car was mostly empty, but those who were there looked tired and dehydrated, and a number of them were silently reading the Qur’an.

As we got to within about 10 minutes of sunset, there were young boys at each metro station. They would approach the cars and throw food and drink items through the window for us, getting everyone ready for the impending end of the fast. Often it was small plastic bags containing three dates, other times it was cottage cheese-type cartons that seemed to be filled with juice.

At a certain point we stopped at a station and heard the calls to prayer from various mosques, and everyone began to eat and drink. A man walked down the aisle with a bottle of water, sharing it with everyone. I took my share along with the rest.

The dates were excellent, as they almost always are in Egypt. Once I finished, a small boy came on board our car and gave me another bag, this time containing two dates. I ate those as well.