CHENNAI: People around the world are having to alter many Ramzan staples — from mass prayers to family feasts and Eidi to empty food streets. Because, a festival’s call for celebration is always answered. These men and women tell us how they are doing it all…
Ahmed Khan, senior PFS lead, Bengaluru
I’ve been living in Bengaluru for the past 30 years. We wait for this time of the year to celebrate the festival with family, food and prayers. We have something called Tarawih, additional ritual prayers performed at the mosque after everyday namaz. Many of us depend on the maulvi (Islam scholars) to attend prayers because we can’t recite the Quran. We miss that the most. Secondly, for the past three-four years, we’ve been having special food streets set up for Ramzan where we get to relish camel meat and haleem. This is also the time we look forward to shopping for the entire house. Takh Raat is another holy custom where we pray on all six nights prior to the last ten nights of Ramzan. Last is sehri, where a pre-dawn meal is arranged for around 600-700 poor people at the mosque. All this will be missed this year
Waheeda Moideen, La Leche Leader, Chennai
My family is quite big. We are half a dozen siblings. My sisters and brothers are settled in Canada, the UK and the UAE. This is the only time of the year, on the occasion of Eid, where we come together as a family and celebrate in Chennai. This year, four of the six siblings are stranded in different corners of the world and unable to travel to Chennai to be together in our mother’s house. The best part of Ramadan is that we all cook together. Each of us would ask our mother to prepare our favourite dishes to break the fast. We also invite friends and extended family to join for iftar (breaking the fast after evening prayers) over the weekends. We miss the special nombu kanji that our father makes (currently he is also not in Chennai). He makes the best fish biryani and mutton fry for the entire group! We miss each other’s physical presence and this year for Ramadan and for Eid.
Adil Lateef, producer, India Today Television, New Delhi
This Ramadan, when all of us are largely confined to our houses due to coronavirus outbreak, the gatherings in the mosques is what I miss the most. For the first time, the mosques have fallen silent in my lifetime. This is the most painful thing for me. I miss going for Tarawih prayers and stand for hours hearing the beautiful recitation of the Holy Quran. While I usually break my fast in office, on my off-days, I occasionally used to break the fast in my neighbourhood mosque.
I miss how dozens of people sit in queues together facing each other on dastarkhwan full of dates, biryani, pakoras, fruits and unmissable Roohafza drink. This Ramadan, there have been no iftar gatherings – another first in my life – and I miss them a lot. I miss the buzzing night market in Delhi’s Zakir Nagar. From Lucknowi galawati kabab to Javed ki nihari to multiple feasts, the eateries would compel you to taste at least one of them. I believe, the congregational prayer is the soul of Ramadan and unfortunately, this Ramadan has been soulless.
Farida, homemaker, Chennai
What I miss the most during this lockdown is the Tarawih prayer which happens in communal gatherings in local mosques from evening till night. It is a special form of Islamic meditation and prayer. Though we began Ramadan amid the coronavirus scare by forgoing communal prayers, family gatherings and staying in isolation, this is a major step in fighting together against COVID-19.
Mohammed Farith Badsha Sayeed, HR professional, Chennai
I’ll miss the evening Tarawih namaz and chit-chat with friends over a cup of tea or glass of falooda, mosque kanji at iftar, the bustling mood of Triplicane High Road — decked with shops selling special Rumani Semiya, mouth-watering eateries; crowded Pycrofts Road with special Ramzan roadside shops with mehendiwalas and bangle shops for the women. The morning calls from all my friends and colleagues wishing me ‘Machan Happy Ramzan da! Biryani and sheer kurma ready a?’.
I’ll miss our house kitchen being a big mess — with onion skins, coriander, mint leaves, and other things scattered for biryani preparation. Every Ramzan, my friend Harsha from Hyderabad couriers the famous Hyderabad haleem...I won’t have that this year. Visiting Buhari hotel in Saidapet for iftar with my colleagues where free iftar feast is served with dates, yummy nombu kanji, kheema samosa, glass full of rose milk and fruit platter is something I will miss the most.
Shaheen Ahmed, homemaker, Bengaluru
Ramzan is one time of the year, when we spend a lot of time with our family, even the extended members. All the women in the house prepare sehri and iftar meals together. This Ramzan, I’m going to miss cooking with all my sisters-in-law. It’s a different energy in the kitchen when we come together. This year, my kitchen feels very empty. I only have to prepare food for my husband, son and myself. Even though they help, it is not the same. I will miss all the usual chattering and laughing. I hope God answers our prayers and puts an end to coronavirus as quickly as possible.
Rehna Abdul Kareem, content specialist, Bengaluru
I’ve never really celebrated Ramzan in the religious sense. It has always been a cultural celebration for me. There are lots of people around, there’s a lot of noise and laughter and of course, without a doubt, there’s a lot of food. It’s the time the entire extended family gets together and roasts each other or goes on some kind of nostalgia trip. Inviting people for iftar at our place is another thing I miss. I loved explaining to my non-Muslim friends how things are done, how we break the fast and all the tiny things that come with it. The lockdown has really put a pause to our plans but the virtual Zoom iftars have been reassuring that family is, after all, forever.
Zohan Alvi, student, Hyderabad
Every Ramzan, my cousins and I receive eidi from our elders. We generally have a huge family reunion at our uncle’s house, at the end of which all the kids get gifts or money as eidi. This year, because of the quarantine, we won’t be able to have the reunion. Although some of my uncles have joked about Google Pay-ing us, I’m sure we won’t get as much as we normally do. My mother has even said that I should donate my eidi to those who are in need of money during these times, so I don’t think I’ll be getting any eidi this year, but that’s okay.
Aaqib Quraishi, entrepreneur, Chennai
Ramadan is not only about staying hungry and thirsty, but also about self-reflection. It is about becoming a better human being which in turn helps us in becoming a good Muslim. I miss visiting the mosque and praying with a congregation since it is highly encouraged in Islam. I hope once the situation is safe, we are allowed to visit mosques and pray there. If we are unable to visit mosques before May 24, then this will be the first Eid-Ul-Fitr prayer that we will have to do at our homes which is very upsetting, to say the least.
Forging a new festive routine
MI Siddiqui, Hyderabad
A lockdown during Ramadan is a first. I miss the namaz and Tarawih prayers at the mosque. I have a huge circle of friends, and during Ramadan, we hang out and binge on the delicacies made during this month. We love Hyderabad’s haleem. On weekends, we would explore food joints. Friends and relatives come home when I host the iftar party. I miss all the hustle and bustle of the markets, the lights, and the festive fervour at Charminar. My mother usually drapes our house in all things new — curtains, bed covers, all of it. I miss seeing the enthusiasm on her face. It’s going to be a home affair this year. Apart from routine prayers, we are all praying for those suffering from COVID-19, for their speedy recovery, for the world to get COVID-free very soon, and seeking blessings to be healthy.
Ovais Sultan Khan, human rights activist, New Delhi
This Ramzan is completely different in Delhi. The usual pomp is missing. People are not offering prayers in masjids. There are no light decorations on streets, mosques and houses. Usually, during this season in Old Delhi, the streets are dotted with festive delicacies and beverages like mohabbat ka roohafza, mohabbat ka sharbat (drink of love). Ramzan nights are vert special. Many shopkeepers and manufacturers produce food and drinks only during the Ramzan season. This time around, we won’t have that. What more, only four to five people will gather at mosques (practising social distancing) to offer the prayers for which hundreds gather usually.
Gibran Osman, actor/entrepreneur, Chennai
For Ramadan, my brother and I have made it a practice to invite close friends to break the fast at our office. We will miss those sessions where we huddle up and discuss religion over hot samosas and porridge.
Saima Moosa, business analyst-cum-photographer, Chennai
This year, Ramadan isn’t the same. I miss my family. I live just about 100 km away from them yet I haven’t been able to visit them. Social distancing and the lockdown has rendered me helpless. Ramadan feels incomplete without fasting and eating the delicious delicacies together, getting up for sehri, and iftar. Today, I am at my rented house, cooking and fasting alone. It doesn’t make me feel at home. It’s true that home is not a place and it’s the people. If only I knew the lockdown was to happen I would have rushed to my happy place — my family!
Abdul Rahim, entrepreneur, Chennai
Cooking aromatic biryani and semiya-based dishes and sharing it with our neighbours, friends and family; visiting malls and shopping for clothes; going to the mosque to offer prayers and drinking nombu kanji together — this is what Ramzan reminds me of. This year, wishes are being shared over calls and video chats. Relatives aren’t able to meet each other give warm hugs. We aren’t able to share the food we prepare with our neighbours. The one festival we look forward to has been shrouded with gloom and isolation. I pray that we go back to normalcy soon.
Ali Hyder, software engineer, Hyderabad
I miss all the laughs and chats we have during social gatherings. On the day of Eid, we dress up and greet each other. But this time we will probably be in our tracks or jeans. We have namaz at Eidgas (a common area for large groups of people gathered for prayer). These Eidgas are usually filled with the fragrance of attar. I will surely miss that experience. I believe, happiness is sharing all this love with your near and dear ones and I will miss that.
Salman Khan, digital marketing manager, Bengaluru
I miss the Tarawih prayer that’s especially done during Ramzan. The different versions of the holy Quran are read by the Imam. Likewise, the special prayers performed during the last ten days of Ramzan is auspicious. We stay awake and pray with family the whole night. Food is an inevitable part of our festival; especially, the food stalls put up at Sivaji Nagar. You get culinary delicacies from all parts of the world. It’s a visual treat. None of it is going to be the same this year.
Shabnam Kamil, additional president, Paulsons Beauty & Fashion Pvt Ltd, Chennai
I’m missing the normalcy that every Muslim enjoys during this month. This is also the time for charity. I think somewhere people’s insecurity has risen its ugly head, and charity or sharing meals is not like in the past. Being a food lover I miss the hullabaloo that surrounds this month in the form of haleem, street foods and masjid-made nombu kanji. Eid shopping is also going to be very different.
Farheen Tahir, college student, Kadapa
We will miss going to the mosque for Ramadan prayers at night. While congregating with friends to break the fast is not possible now, we are also not able to send iftar to our dear ones. During the month of fasting, we get to meet our grandparents and strengthen our bonds with them. Now, we have no option but to talk to them over the phone.
Zoha Sanofer, radio jockey, Chennai
This Eid, I will definitely miss visiting my friends’ places to give them biryani, and having relatives over. Most of all, I’ll miss my eidi — money given as gift to youngsters by the elders. But yes, safety comes first and we shall celebrate Eid at our homes and video-call each other.
Muhammed Kamil, soft skills trainer, Chennai
This year, we (as a family) got to spend every moment of this month together, and it was beautiful. For instance, during a ‘regular year’, my father and I would go to the masjid to end our fast, and mom would be home alone, waiting for us to come back. Now, she leads the fast, ending dua, and we follow her. This hasn’t happened in a long time, and I don’t know why. Then, there’s my nephew who is with us and adds more joy to everything. So, this lockdown has been a blessing of togetherness. As for what we’d miss — we might miss the Eid prayer in the masjid which is a big deal, but not as big as the pandemic. We just pray that everyone is safe, healthy and well.
(Inputs by Anushree Madhavan, Naaz Ghani, Roshne Balasubramanian, Srividya RK, Vaishali Vijaykumar)