💬 The Maghrib azaan is how I tell it's evening, in Jeddah or at home

I don't wear a watch and my phone is usually in a drawer at work. Doesn't matter. In Jeddah, the mosque across from our building starts the Maghrib azaan and I know. Evening. Then the shutters go down at the grocery, and the tea shop guy downstairs starts pulling out chairs. Whatever I was doing, I stop for a second. Even in the middle of an email. Back home in Hyderabad it's the same sound, but it comes from 3 or 4 masjids at once. They never start together. One is a few seconds early, one is always late, one has a crackly speaker. My mother says you can tell which colony you're in from the order. I tried it on my last visit. She was right, the Malakpet one always came second. Jeddah has one clean voice and then silence. Very neat. Home is messier and I like it more. Don't tell the Jeddah masjid. I'm 40 steps from it every Friday and I still arrive late. My daughter doesn't care about any of this. She's 7 and only asks if it's time for dinner. Mostly it is, so she has a clock of her own. Last Eid visit I stood on my mother's terrace at Maghrib just to hear all 4 masjids. It took about 90 seconds. My sister came up and asked what I was doing. I said nothing, listening. She said, you live in Jeddah and you listen like a tourist. She's right. I stayed up there until the tea went cold anyway.

The shutters going down at the grocery, then the tea man pulling out chairs, I can see it. During Ramzan in my old neighbourhood near Charminar, Maghrib was the moment the whole street went quiet and busy at the same time. I also like how the 4 masjids never start together. It feels like a conversation. Does Jeddah have an early one and a late one too?

For me it's the kids getting called in from the street. Every balcony shouts a different name. Around 7 in our lane, every day, even during exams.