The rest of the year

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WHILE SCENES such as those in the picture may be around all year round, their meaning changes during Ramadan, which ended yesterday. For a month, everything was different: there was more piety, more charity and more compassion, everywhere you turned. But there was also more traffic, more TV, and -- ironically enough -- more food than ever during the nightly feasts that broke the fast.

Ramadan may bring out both the best and worst in us, but there's no denying its intense, month-long impact. The strange thing is that the good habits -- the sudden shifts to closer family ties, for instance, and the strict adherence to schedules and rules -- always seem to disappear just as quickly as they arrived.

In fact, the sheer scale of the transformation in people's behaviour inevitably begs a question: if -- for a month at least -- it's possible to change for the better, why can't that positive shift last for the rest of the year?

photos: Hamdi Reda