Fasting requires the power of mind over body

In this holy month of Ramadhan, like my Indonesian Muslim friends, I ventured to observe the fast during daylight hours. Apart from the need to count my calories and drop a few pounds, my aim in observing the fast this year was to experience hunger.

The poor cannot afford to have two square meals a day. The rest of us, on the other hand, never need to crave for food. We can afford to eat whatever and whenever we want, and our basic needs are usually taken for granted.

I commenced my fasting in earnest on Oct. 5, the first day of Ramadhan. Last year during Ramadhan I also fasted, except during the weekend. My son did not take too kindly to my fasting at home during the weekend. But now that he has moved to the U.S. to study, I resolved to observe the fast seven days a week this year.

I may add that my sahur (presunrise meal) is just a cup of coffee, as it would be impossible for me to eat anything that early in the day.

My wife, of course, objected that I was "needlessly" putting myself through this fasting ordeal. "After all," she said, "it is not ordained in our Hindu religion to fast in this fashion." "Well, dear", I said, "this is a matter of choice. I'd like to challenge myself to live on one meal a day during this month. Please let me exercise my ability to make a choice at least occasionally."

After many years of married life, I knew when to put my foot down and just do what I wanted. Between you and me, such occasions are very rare, though!

On the matter of making choices in our day-to-day lives, it is like working through a mental flowchart of a standard operating system, asking ourselves "yes" or "no" on different occasions.

There is another angle to this. We may also choose to do nothing --like the late prime minister of India, Narasimha Rao, who was famous for not making decisions even on crucial matters of state. According to him, not making a decision was also a decision.

By the way, he was fluent in many languages; a scribe wrote in a newspaper that Rao could think in nine different languages, ultimately to say nothing!

Another chief minister (from my home province in India) was well known for his non-committal replies. "We will see" (neither "yes" nor "no") became a hallmark of his nine-year administration.

Back to the fasting -- I usually have lunch in the office around noon. During the first few days of the fast, I found it extremely difficult to manage without even a sip of water. But soon enough this didn't bother me much, and I got over the first phase, skipping lunch.

The second phase, late afternoon, was even more difficult. This is the time when one tends to wear out, with energy levels dropping. The metabolism slows and productivity slumps. Therefore, we keenly look forward to breaking the fast in the evening and grabbing that first drink of the day.

Soon I was into the third week of the fast. Feeling more confident, it became immaterial to me whether I broke my fast in the evening or not. It was like I could extend my fast for a few more hours.

There was no perceptible discomfort or unusual weakness. In fact, there was a sense of "liberation" from my eating patterns, and I even started enjoying this newfound freedom from hunger, albeit temporarily. But it was apparent that we have the power within ourselves to rise above our eating habits.

However, the challenge is not just fasting from dawn to dusk, but in avoiding the temptation to overeat after the fast is over.

My Muslim colleagues, when asked how they could, year after year, observe the month-long ritual of fasting from sunlight to sunset, simply say "wajib", meaning that they are obliged to do so by their religion. I presume that from childhood they are trained to follow the fast every year. For them, fasting is nothing extraordinary. It seems like a marathon for the rest of us, though.

Ultimately, fasting is not an end in itself. It is a process -- a journey one goes through, with a positive outlook, to test the power of mind over body.

Changing our habits basically comes from a transformation of our attitude. If we think "we can", we can. If we say to ourselves "we can't", that is what we tend to bring out. Our thoughts, visualizing a happy outcome, do have a powerful effect on our emotional and physical well-beings. -- D. Chandramouli