Selamat Idul Fitri!

You'd barely notice it from here in New York City, where people are more focused on Wall Street bailouts, Rosh Hashanah and the Mets' usual late-season collapse. But it's Idul Fitri, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and the beginning of Lebaran, the holidays when everyone streams out of Indonesian cities and heads back to family in the country.

The breaking of the fast is definitely a time for celebration. When I was in Riau Province in Sumatra back in the '90s, I even tried to do the fasting thing, in brotherhood with my host family. I lasted all of a week, dehydrated and disoriented. Hats off to those who can deal with fasting from sunup to sundown for a month, because this fragile Canadian certainly didn't have the mettle for it!

So, happy holidays from America. A special shout-out to my old buddies Sukanto Toding, Afhina Burhanuddin, Sri Nanda Unun Marsindra, Ni Made Sumartini, Ritmanto Saleh, Neeloufar Naz Bazuki, Muhammad Yasir, Emmalia Natar, Bambang Setiawan, and anyone else I've forgotten. Assalamu alaikum!


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