18 July: Hyderabad, IREF and the madrasa

I haven't decided how to make use of my notes for today, so I'll upload pictures instead (for now). Will think on the day's events and see what settles in my mind. But I wanted to give you a look of some of what and whom we encountered.

This is a blurry picture of the very charismatic Brother Imran, director of IREF whose mission is to disabuse people of misconceptions about Islam.

Sister Amtul is handing me a gift packet containing a Qur'an,
6 DVDs of IREF lectures, mostly by Brother Imran, and a collection
of the Brother's writings. She is due to deliver her 5th child any day. 

Two of our hosts in the women's section of IREF. They preferred
not to be photographed with their faces visible.

Traditionally you break the fast with water and/or a few dates.
We had a samosa and peppery lentils. Yum!

The line for chai at the end of the meal. One of my dinner
companions hooked me up  so I didn't have to
jockey for space in the line. Hot, sweet and spiced:
Indian chai is a delicious way to end a meal. 

Baby Maryam at IREF. Guess this answers the question of at what age girls start to wear the hejab.

A few young madrasa students who overcame
their shyness to have a quick photo snapped

My charming dinner companions, students at the madrasa
(iftar, the meal that breaks the fast)

Typical traffic in Hyderabad. This perspective does not adequately
emphasize how little room for error there is between  "lanes"

Perfect laundry

This accompanied my basket of perfect laundry from the hotel