On immersion (popular these days)

I mentioned Gabriel in the last post and I will give you a quick and dirty translation of a fun passage from a blog post by Gabriel, about his interpretation of Istanbul. (Please note, dear readers, that my translation is slightly simplified compared with the original.)

For roleplayer and larpers immersion is a dear theme. But it's not only obscure subcultures that engage in honest and tiring games of imagination. Right now a global immersion practice is going on all over the world.

I wake startled, by a drum solo right outside my window. Turn on my cell phone. It's four in the morning. I listen to the drums and soon someone starts singing loudly. It goes on for a couple of minutes. I am surprised that noone stop the lunatic, but soon I fall asleep again. In the morning I ask Zeynep what was going on. It's Ramadan, the month-long moslem fast that goes on from dawn to sun down. During the day people don't eat and that's the reason to why they have to be woken up before dawn to have something to eat to be able to stand the coming day. Ramadan is a way of getting closer to god (imagine the presence of god), but it's also a way to understand how poor and starving people are leading their lifes. Even the most hardcore immersionist have to be impressed by this level of ambition.