Sara Arfeen Khan Reminisces Ramadan Celebration A Year Before The Lockdown & Shares Her Sehri and Iftar Ritual

It is the holy month of Ramadan where Muslims across the world observe a month-long waterless fast or keeping Roza, from sunrise to sunset where they wake up in the early hours of the morning to eat Sehri and in the evening break their fast with dates followed by a lavish Iftar. 

As celebrations this year are a little different to usual with the lockdown limiting large gatherings, we speak to actress Sara Arfeen Khan about her Sehri and Iftar ritual and how different her Ramadan is this year. 

“We don’t do a very heavy Sehri, it is usually very simple, with either eggs or oats and tea. For Iftar we would generally make half at home and the rest would be brought from outside but this year we are obviously making everything at home. Our Iftar menu comprises off dates, salad, a lot of fruits, nimbu paani, chicken nuggets and egg preparation. We try to keep it as high-protein as possible”, shares Sara 

Sara gets emotional as she shares memories of celebrating Ramadan in India when things were better and the country wasn't on lockdown. “Earlier we would get a lot of stuff from the market, there was a strange joy in shopping during Iftar, the whole experience was amazing which is very different from what it was in London as compared to India. Here there is a lot of crowd, people like to go out to the market and get a lot of things together, the Iftar atmosphere is different in India, it is a lot of fun. This year I am missing that a lot. The way we celebrate Ramadan in India this year feels completely different, it can’t be expressed in words”, says Sara. 

While these are tough times for the world as a whole, we must try and keep our spirits high and celebrate the small joys of life in the hope that things will get better soon.