The Ramadan Drummer
Mohammad Boota plays for an audience of one outside a Pakistani business in Brooklyn. Photo: The New York Times By Kirk Semple A FEW hours before dawn, when most New Yorkers are asleep, a man rolls out of bed in Brooklyn, dons a billowy red outfit and matching turban, climbs into his car, drives 15 minutes, pulls out a big drum and - on the pavement of a residential neighbourhood - starts to play. Mohammad Boota is a Ramadan drummer. Every morning during the holy month, drummers stroll the streets of Muslim communities around the world, waking worshippers so they can eat a meal before the day's fasting begins. A Pakistani immigrant, Mr Boota has spent the past few years learning uncomfortable lessons about noise-complaint hotlines, profanity and the crankiness of non-Muslims rousted from sleep at 3.30am. ''Everywhere they complain,'' he said. ''People go, like, 'What the hell? What you doing, man?' They never know it's Ramadan.'' Mr Boot