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essie Arvi, a 30-year-old officer working for a public relations company, enjoys Ramadhan each year. This is because she knows she can get the best out of it through a little effort.

Breaking the fast for her does not just mean the chance to end one day's fast, but also to meet business partners, to expand her network, to talk about business opportunities and to show good intentions.

"I used to spend my afternoon throughout Ramadhan going home earlier than normal office hours to have a nice breaking-of-the-fast meal with my parents. However, things changed once I realized the significance of networking in breaking of the fast get togethers," she said.

This is not just the case with individuals, but companies have also started to use the breaking of the fast gatherings as an opportunity to rekindle connections. Each of The Jakarta Post's account executive officers, for example, has accepted at least one breaking of the fast invitation from a client company.

Different four- and five-star hotels in Jakarta, including different restaurants belonging to large groups and those on hotel premises, often invite the media for a breaking of the fast gathering during Ramadhan.

As this is handy in maintaining connections between the inviters and the invitees, such events are often used as an opportunity to find out about a hotel's or restaurant's new program, menu, related packages during the month and breaking of the fast activities. Small talk could also provide knowledge regarding the industry.

In late 2006, different four- to five-star hotels under the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Employees Association (IPERKAHRI) initiated a public breaking of the fast event throughout the month of Ramadhan.

The event, participated in by 18 hotels, invited everyone to visit a different hotel every day for at least 18 days to join talk shows, bazaars, interactive quizzes, breaking the fast with orphans and giving them goody bags and performing the Taraweeh together. The event was repeated in 2007, but not in 2008.

"We never joined the event, but our hotel has always had its own Ramadhan activities," said Herlina Widowati, the public relations officer at Grand Hyatt.

Grand Hyatt invited major clients and guests back in 2008 for a breaking of the fast event and there's a big chance it will do it again this year. While still indecisive about the timing to treat under privileged children at the hotel -- either at Ramadhan or sometime before Christmas - Herlina stated that it was just a matter of time this year.

Clients can also meet other clients at such events, which enable them to expand their network in a much more controlled situation. Twenty-eight-year-old Dimas Tandayu, for example, got his second job as an IT officer though a friend's relative whom he met at a breaking of the fast gathering in 2008.

"It started with small talk and introductions. And after a light discussion about religion --- it was a breaking of the fast gathering after all -- he asked me about my background and asked whether I'd like to work for his company," said Dimas.

But with younger generations finding breaking the fast throughout the Ramadhan a new opportunity for networking, the majority of people remain loyal to tradition, spending their quality time with family or friends at a mall or family oriented spots.

The wide assortment of malls in Jakarta, not to mention leisure spots like Monas and Menteng Park, will be packed with families, groups of people and couples waiting to break the fast. In West Java, this is what they call ngabuburit.

The term ngabuburit, from the Sundanese phrase "waiting for the afternoon", has long been used to describe people's activity in waiting for the setting of the sun. It was told that the Sundanese in the old days, both young and old would go to the nearest park or city center to sit and relax with friends while they waited for the dusk.

The term has regained popularity in recent years, namely due to a number of TV program's using the phrase in their titles and interviews in the late 1990s - religious and otherwise. The meaning, nevertheless, has shifted to the better with nonproductive activities being excluded from ngabuburit. Events named ngabuburit in different malls quite often cover various topics and invite different religious speakers to conduct talk shows, religious concerts and the like.