The Beginning of Ramadan

Today is the first day of Ramadan. I was awakened sometime in the dark hours of early morning by the sound of a loudspeaker going through the streets, telling people to wake up and eat before sunrise. Later, I picked up my mother-in-law and we walked to the grocery store, dodging cars, CNGs and motor cycles that were driving on the sidewalk. I am not kidding. I've had to dodge cycles before but never cars! It was crazy! If the sidewalks were that bad, you can imagine what the roads were like! In some places we had to make our way onto the street, as the sidewalk was completely covered with construction materials. We got to the store safely and, for some reason, it had a sleepy feel to it. Despite the fact that it was past opening time, the shutters were only partially opened but we ducked under and started shopping. I was surprised to see how sparse the produce selection was, and even more surprised to see the rice/flour/sugar aisle half empty. There was not a single piece of meat in the meat section, not a bag of milk in the coolers. ( Milk is sold in litre or half litre bags here.) I knew certain items would be harder to find this month but didn't expect such sparseness on the first day! We got what we could and bounced home on a rickshaw, in the rain, with our bundles balanced on our laps and at our feet. Now I'm about ready to head to another store and, hopefully, will have a bit more luck this time!