Impressions
Of Monsoon Ramadan and Eid
Photo: SK Enamul Haq
When the trolleys came out for the second meal service of the flight to Dhaka, it was early morning (11 July), and the timing was perfect for sehri according to the schedule of Dhaka. Combining the sandwich provided by the airline with the bits that we had picked up from Istanbul airport during our transit, my wife and I had a good sehri and prepared ourselves for the first day of fasting.
Although our friends in Geneva wonder why we return to Dhaka in the middle of the lovely summer there, we had made this a practice for the past few years. Initially, I thought of this as our monsoon trip because I love the season so much. Even without being poetic, one can perhaps appreciate the beauty of the season when the surrounding turns green and dark clouds gather to bring rain and relief for all who have been reeling under the hot and humid summer. This time was no exception, although the days of heavy monsoon rain were few during my stay. Despite the invasion of Dhaka by a jungle of concrete, from the covered part of our rooftop terrace, I was able to enjoy the dark clouds, the driving rain and the soothing wind that blew from the east and south, and muse over the poems and songs that eulogize the season. The setting was perfect for humming songs like mon more megher songee or jharo jharo borishe baridhara.
My favourite park had already put on its lush green attire with yellow and red prints provided by flowers like karobi, aloknanda, rongon, etc. The season of summer fruits was at its tail end, and yet there were a few kanthals still hanging from the tree in our house. Fazli aam was available in the market, and so were a couple of Indian variety of mangoes.
For the past few years, the month of Ramadan has been falling during monsoon, and we found it doubly enjoyable to spend the time in Dhaka. One might say that I was making my fast easier by getting away from Geneva where the duration of fast would be over 18 hours (because sunset was around 9:30 pm) whereas in Dhaka it was about 15 hours. While that is factually correct, there is also the issue of ambiance. However much one tries, it's not easy to replicate the real Ramadan ambiance in a place where Muslims are a tiny minority.
Once, my wife and I went to the mosque in Geneva at the time of iftar in order to get a feel of Ramadan outside the house. The iftar provided by the mosque consisted of a few dates and a glass of juice. And dinner was served immediately after the maghrib prayers where everybody present was invited. The meal consisted of a bowl of vegetable soup and a generous portion of rice and chicken _ very healthy of course. Furthermore, the company was multicultural, with devotees from the all over the world, including the Arab and northern African countries. While I felt very happy to be able to join such a diverse gathering, I was still missing something.
But it is not easy to describe what that something is. It's basically a matter of feeling it. In a place like Dhaka, one hears the footsteps of Ramadan soon after Shab-e-baraat as one starts talking about the month, changes in working hours are announced, media is abuzz with news of efforts to keep the supply and prices of food items that are on high demand during the month stable, and people brace for another round of price hike. In fact, significant changes in overall lifestyle can be seen as people practise restraint not only by staying away from food and drinks during the day time but also by curtailing other activities.
Photo: Prabir Das
One major casualty of Ramadan is perhaps cultural activities. I missed especially those that are normally held to celebrate monsoon. There was hardly any such activity in the evenings. Even the monthly evening programme of the cultural centre of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka had very little.
But culture was not entirely absent from the month's fair. Various TV channels continued with their programmes of music and dance and didn't forget the death anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. An addition was Islamic songs telecast by several channels, especially before iftar. Another type of programme that became my favourite is that of cooking, the contents of which were modified to demonstrate items suitable for the month, especially for iftar. What was interesting is that there was specialization and diversification _ one channel showing only soups, one only drinks and desserts, and some demonstrating items that can be prepared quickly. These programmes followed by devotional songs provided a perfect build up to the iftar time. Of course, that longed for time is no longer announced by a siren blaring from somewhere that used to appear mysterious to me during my childhood. With the advent of TV, that tradition is gone. But the ambiance is still no less attractive.
To me, a major attraction during Ramadan in Dhaka is Eid shopping. However, looking at and reading about new designs that come to the market on the occasion of Eid, I wondered whether it's only the young who are connoisseurs of new fashions and designs. Couldn't the designers and traders think of the not-so-young also while designing attires? Happily, however, my wife and I got a matching set of saree and punjabi (from a craft shop) as gift from my eldest brother and Bhabi. I must mention, they attracted a lot of attention when we wore them for parties.
Unfortunately, Eid shopping this year took a bad hit from four consecutive days of hartal at the beginning of the month. But we were not to be daunted. When we realised that shops were defying the call for hartal and were keeping open, we also followed suit and went for shopping by rickshaw. Out on the road, there was vehicular traffic in addition to rickshaws. And the shops also did have customers _ though a far cry from the crowd expected at that time. That created a hope in me that although enactment of anti-hartal law may not be feasible in a democratic country, people themselves will start defying calls for hartal that do not have any real rationale.
That hartal was taking its toll on the poor was clear from the way a middle aged man approached me outside my house and lamented the lack of business in his trade of selling vegetables. What really struck me was his request for zakat – something I didn't expect from a person who is economically active. Moreover, the increase in the number of beggars in the city was an indication of the persistence of poverty and destitution despite the much trumpeted success in poverty reduction and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
In addition, there were the survivors of industrial disasters like Rana Plaza and Tazreen Fashions still to be fully compensated, and to the utter disgust of many, the former was declared as an act God. The routine struggle for getting workers paid before Eid was also on. Amidst such desperation and destitution, Eid returns to Bangladesh, and did so this time as well.
As usual, the build up to the Eid day was characterised by mass movement of people out of Dhaka, the struggle for tickets and places in trains, buses and launches, and Dhaka wearing a deserted look. What is not noticed so much is the number of people going out of the country during the holiday. It seemed to me that while common people return to their roots, the rich tend to drift away.
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