21 Ramadan 1430h - Iftaar at Falafel and common mistakes during salat

Suhoor: Warm milk and bread with omelette
Iftaar & dinner: Water, dates, kofta curry and briyani with salad

My patience was tested today. I went to the visa application centre the second time with the required documents plus the bank statement they asked the last time. They sent me away again telling me I needed the Aug statement and July cannot be accepted to prove that I have been in the country for more than a year.

This is how i felt. My face flushed. I could feel the blood rising into my neck and face and I was trying not to raise my voice at her. I couldn't bring myself to look at her and I said grudgingly that the last three time I applied for an indian visa there was no problem as such and I was never rejected. If i could get a Japanese visa and even a UK visa i cannot see why not an indian visa when I have no records of rejection!

She just said, that the regulations has been change since last year and that are the requirements. I stomped out of the room with the papers. Took the bus to city centre and tried finding for the bank to get the statement printed. Found it, waited for 30 min and then after getting it tried pacing myself by wandering around awhile window shopping and got myself a pyjama top, two turtle neck shirts and a really nice chuditar-like trousers which matches my new oasis top. I like it. That seemed to cool me off. Bought some fishes - two sea bass and a mackeral for only 5 quids. It was cheap since it was from the farmers' market.

However saw worms wiggling on the plate after cleaning them off their guts. I was a bit disgusted but Sandra was telling me that it signified a good fresh fish. I was still disgusted. I think i would have to cook it for an hour to appease myself. Bake or boil or fry.

Then Aisha came into the kitchen and announced that she finally finished and submitted her dessertation and asked if i would like to go out for iftaar and dinner. So I hurriedly finished up the fish cleaning and changed and we walked to curry mile together and had a nice iftaar at falafel. I think it is a palestinian eatery. We waited for the adhan and broke our fast at 745pm (it should have been 735pm according to the schedule I follow but since it is with other people it is best waiting for everyone to break fast together) with dates and water and continued having dinner. It was tasty and filling, a good break from the constant cooking every evening.

This morning my jaan was reading to me the most common mistakes done during salat and the most prominent mistakes that caught my attention were:

1. Reciting the al-Fatihah without pausing after each sentence. Correctly we should pause and say it slowly.
   
2. Not resting the nose during sajdah. We should rest seven bone on the floor during sajdah/sujood which are the forehead, the nose, the palms, the knees, and the toes.
3. Counting the tasbih with the fingers of the left hands. It should be done only with fingers of right hands.
4. Hurrying through the sajdah and ruku. It should be said slowly and uniformedly without hurrying, sentence by sentence with concentration on every word.
5. Moving hands around during salat. Hands should be kept in their place and movement only restricted to which is for the salat and not other unnecessary gestures.

So that's it.