All together now

Illustration: Nowshin Tasnim

We just crossed the ten-day mark for Ramadan this past week, and the 1000 posts for this year's Sehri Tales challenge. I don't know if the thrill of crossing these milestones ever wears off – it certainly hasn't for me.

While Sehri Tales has produced some gripping confessionals over the years, we're going through some turbulent times now, and there were some concerns about whether we'd be adding to the stress with potentially triggering stories. I was pleasantly surprised to find an outpouring of positivity in this year's crop of tales – beautiful, inspiring pieces for the 'Forward' prompt, a couple of sweet, heart-melting romances for the 'Date' prompt, and of course, plenty of mouth-watering offerings for the annual tenth-day prompt 'Kacchi'. We're so grateful to cloud kitchen Ms Katachamoch for sponsoring our tenth-day prompt. Please check them out at https://www.facebook.com/Ms.katachamoch/ for budget friendly South-Asian meals.

I'm also happy to witness the beginnings of a community this year. Virtual strangers have been cheering each other on and encouraging each other to post. A few strong contenders for Talespeople favourites have already emerged (Tahia Tabassum's streak has been particularly strong this week), but aside from the ones battling it out with poetry, prose and pigment, a fierce team of cheerleaders have also taken it upon themselves to keep everyone's spirits up. Honestly, this is exactly the kind of energy the world reads right now, and I hope this continues.

So stay safe, stay hydrated, and stay tuned for some more healing, heartwarming stories.

The author is a writer and journalist, and the creator of the annual Sehri Tales creative writing challenge.